Mimete S.r.l: Starting powder production
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Starting out in powder production: The story of Fomas Group’s Mimete metal powder business Spun out of Fomas Group in 2017, Mimete S.r.l has quickly carved out a position in the metal powder market as a provider of high-performance, gas atomised iron, nickel and cobalt-base alloy powders for metal Additive Manufacturing. But how did a company born of a forging specialist make the transition to advanced metal powder producer? In this article, Luca van der Heide speaks to senior employees from Fomas Group and Mimete, who share how the company has acquired the necessary technical expertise for powder production, providing special insight into the techniques and products they have developed to live up to the challenges of a new, fast-changing market.
In the years leading up to 2017, the international Fomas Group, a manufacturer of forgings and seamless rolled rings in steel and non-ferrous alloys headquartered in Osnago, Italy, observed a surge of interest in new manufacturing technologies, and began to conduct its own R&D into technologies that could compete with or complement its standard processes. Among the technologies investigated, Additive Manufacturing attracted the group’s attention the most. As Fomas started to become aware of the great interest in metal powders for advanced manufacturing amongst its clients, it realised that powder production was the point in the metal AM value chain that was closest to its competences and resources. “We were already familiar with the melting of metals, which is the first phase of the atomisation process,” explained Giulia Conti, Strategic Marketing Analyst for Fomas Group. “Seeing how many of our clients started looking at AM rather than other technologies, we
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decided to support them, offering our own metal powder.” The group established Mimete S.r.l. in 2017, specifically for the production of metal powders for AM. “The whole structure of the company is designed to respect the strict quality standards
that industry requires for AM products,” stated Conti. “At the same time, the plant, although optimised for additive, can also be used for other technologies like Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) and laser cladding, which makes it extremely versatile.”
Fig. 1 From left to right: Francesca Bonfanti, Technical Development Manager, Mimete; Giulia Conti, Strategic Marketing Analyst, Fomas Group; and Andrea Tarabiono, Production Manager, Mimete
Winter 2021
Powder Metallurgy Review
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