Evaluation of dynamic powder behavior for three Ti alloy s targeting laser and ebeam powder bed additive manufacturing applications

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is a disruptive technology that incrementally builds very complex objectslayer-by-layer directly from a digital file, objects impossible to produce by conventional machining. AdvancedPowders and Coatings (AP&C), is a world leader in fabrication of ultra-high-performance spherical metalpowders engineered for AM and metal spray coatings. AP&C is producing among the best free-flowing andagglomerate-free spherical Ti-based metal powders, yielding superior control and performance efficienciesover competition. AP&C constantly desires to further understand the characteristics of their powders for AMand how powder quality can be further improved to ultimately develop a global understanding between thepowder characteristics and compositions. This relation is strategic to improve their competitiveness andproduct portfolio, leading to the ultimate goal of business growth. This proposal will provide baseline answersregarding the feasibility and complementarity in using a new powder characterization tool: the dynamic angleof repose (Granudrum) to better understand metal powder motion and rheology as an emerging consensusreveals that the traditional powder characterization techniques are insufficient to understand the powderbehavior during AM processing. The proposed test matrix will include static and dynamic powder behaviorproperties for three powders: Ti-64, Ti-6242 and Ti-5553. Identification of the relationships between theextrinsic and intrinsic properties of the proposed powders will be done to identify optimal particle surfacecharacteristics mitigating adhesion and cohesion issues. The knowledge will be usable by AP&C to adjust theirprocessing parameters to obtain improved powder surface characteristics and help in the development of bestpractices for powder handling by AP&C's customers.