PowderCleanse - Automated powder recycling and quality assurance for enhanced additive manufacturing material reuse

金属添加剂制造(AM)通常被标榜为制造业的未来，它在部件设计和复杂性方面提供了无限的可能性，最大限度地减少了材料损耗，并能够通过互联网在世界任何地方制造部件。AM的一个方面受到的关注相对较少，但却支撑着AM所依赖的基础，那就是粉末管理。粉末床AM工艺通常每制造1公斤的零件使用多达20公斤的粉末。这意味着AM用户必须能够在此过程中有效地处理和回收大量粉末。在当前一代的AM机器中，粉末处理设备对粉末可追溯性和粉末质量都构成了潜在的风险。这在很大程度上是由于粉末暴露在环境中和使用非最佳设备造成的。PowderCleanse项目将开发和展示一种有效的粉末管理解决方案，该解决方案利用数字连接来监视和控制过程的每个方面。将为金属粉末筛分、在线过程监测、异物污染检测和全封闭粉末处理环境开发关键创新。Power Cleanse系统将通过成立工业咨询委员会(IAB)由最终用户的需求直接驱动。IAB将既充当最终用户的代言人，又充当测试组。

Metal additive manufacturing (AM) is often billed as the future of manufacturing, providing unlimited possibilities in terms of part design and complexity, minimal material wastage and the ability to manufacture parts anywhere in the world through the internet. An aspect of AM that receives relatively limited attention, yet underpins the foundation that AM relies upon, is powder management. Powder bed AM processes typically use up to 20 kg of powder for each 1 kg of manufactured part. This means that AM users must be able to effectively handle and recycle vast amounts of powder during the process. In the current generation of AM machines the powder handling equipment provide a potential risk to both powder traceability and powder quality. This is largely driven by exposure of the powder to the environment and the use of non-optimal equipment. The PowderCleanse project will develop and demonstrate an effective solution for powder management which utilises digital connectivity to both monitor and control every aspect of the process. Key innovations will be developed for; metal powder sieving, online process monitoring, foreign body contamination detection and fully enclosed powder handling environments. The PowderCleanse system will be directly driven by the needs of end user through the formation of an industrial advisory board (IAB). The IAB will act as both the voice of end-users and as a beta test group.