- Tungsten carbide can now be printed without melting or ruining its strength
- A laser and heated wire soften metal just enough to bond layers
- Avoiding full melting reduces defects that previously blocked metal additive manufacturing
Most people are familiar with 3D printers making plastic parts, toys, or simple tools, but printing metal is far more difficult.
The reason is that metals require extremely high heat and react badly when heated and cooled too quickly.
However in a major breakthrough, scientists at Hiroshima University have now shown that tungsten carbide cobalt can now be 3D printed using a different method.
Instead of fully melting the metal, the process heats it just enough to soften it. This allows the material to bond layer by layer without losing its internal structure.
The method uses a laser and a heated wire to soften a solid carbide rod during printing.
A thin nickel alloy layer is also placed between printed layers to help them stick together more reliably.
Because the metal is not fully melted, the printed result avoids many of the defects seen in earlier attempts.
The researchers report that the final printed material reaches a hardness of over 1400HV, without introducing defects or decomposition.
This level of hardness is only slightly below materials like sapphire and diamond, which is unusual for 3D printed metal parts.
Tungsten carbide is widely used in cutting and construction tools, and it is one of the hardest engineering materials in use today.
These tools are usually made by shaping solid blocks of material, which creates a large amount of waste.
Being able to 3D print defect-free, industrial-grade carbides could reduce wasted material and allow parts to be made closer to their final shape.
The current process still struggles with cracking in some cases, and complex shapes are not yet easy to produce.
“The approach of forming metal materials by softening them rather than fully melting them is novel,” said Keita Marumoto, an assistant professor at Hiroshima University’s Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering.
“It has the potential to be applied not only to cemented carbides, which were the focus of this study, but also to other materials.”
Despite the progress, this work does not mean tungsten parts will soon be printed in everyday settings.
Metal printing remains slower, more expensive, and harder to control than plastic printing.
The researchers say further process refinements are needed to reduce cracking and allow more complex designs.
The idea of softening rather than melting metals appears promising, but its real-world value will depend on whether it can scale, repeat reliably, and work outside test environments.
Via Tom’s Hardware
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