EuroPM 2026 - Fraunhofer IKTS

Trade fair / October 11, 2026 - October 14, 2026

EuroPM

Euro PM is one of the leading events for the international powder metallurgy community and a central platform for industry professionals, researchers and suppliers. Alongside an extensive technical programme featuring more than 200 oral and poster presentations, the 2,500-square-metre exhibition will showcase the latest developments across the entire powder metallurgy supply chain.

As Europe’s largest research institute for ceramics, hard materials and cermets, Fraunhofer IKTS demonstrates how materials, components and processes can be developed systematically using a broad range of characterization methods, thermodynamic and kinetic modelling, and extensive furnace technology ranging from laboratory to pilot scale.

Booth G7/H7

Event details

Program

Talks
Anne Vornberger: Properties of Hardmetals from Reclaimed WC-Co Powders Produced by Different Recycling Methods,
Session 30: Hardmetals – Processing of Recycled Powders, Room: F1, October 13, 2026, 2:15 p.m.

Location

HUNGEXPO Budapest Congress and Exhibition Center
Budapest, Hungary

Date

October 11, 2026 - October 14, 2026

Hard phase synthesis

Increasingly complex applications and efforts to reduce the use of critical raw materials are driving the development of novel hard phases and the hardmetals and cermets made from them. Reasons for reducing their use include limited availability, toxicity and supply security as well as the social and political conditions in sourcing countries.

For more environmentally friendly cermets and thermally sprayed coatings made from hard phase–metal composites, Fraunhofer IKTS produces carbides and carbonitrides on a kilogram scale via two routes: carbothermal reduction, which is particularly suitable for grain sizes below 1 µm, and solid-phase reaction, which also enables medium to coarse grain sizes. These methods can produce complex carbides containing several cations, such as (Nb,Mo)C, as well as high-entropy carbides such as (Ti, V, Nb, Ta, W)C. The novel hard phases can be used in hardmetal and cermet development, for new coating compositions, for example in laser cladding or thermal spraying, and in additive manufacturing.

Product sheet: Hard phase synthesis [ PDF 0.63 MB ]

3D printed hardmetal components

By an increasingly sophisticated tool design the productivity of tools can be further improved and optimized. In traditional tool manufacturing, complex geometries, such as helical or meandering cooling channels inside the component or surfaces with undercuts, are still implemented at high costs or not realizable at all.

A process developed at Fraunhofer IKTS allows the 3D printing of complex hardmetal tools. The achieved components show a typical hardmetal structure comprising a density of one hundred percent and a homogeneous binder distribution. Comparing the materials characteristics, there are no differences between the 3D printed and conventionally produced high-performance hardmetal tools.

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