Superalloy Atomisation Trials Using Revert and TurNings (SATURN)

许多制造过程产生的废料处理起来很昂贵，或者不易回收。该计划旨在将英国客户生产的加工污染金属废料和加工副产品转化为高纯度、高价值的镍合金或不锈钢粉末，用于增材制造/3D打印等先进应用，包括航空航天和医疗。材料的升级回收是Liberty / GFG Greensteel战略的一部分，可以将原本废弃的材料的价值提高10倍。受2019冠状病毒病（COVID - 19）大流行的影响，社会限制加剧了石油和天然气行业的现有压力，因此预计该行业的投资将长期低迷。因此，除了该行业产生的大量加工屑外，英国石油和天然气供应链中还存在大量的部分加工材料。该提案是在英国加工的，以形成更易于管理的材料，以帮助处理和熔化，用于我们250公斤的自由真空感应熔化（VIM）炉，在转化为雾化粉末的开始。本文将建立一个有限元模型来模拟不同比例的还原和翻转感应熔化。该模型将指导炉膛装料和熔炼工艺的优化。第一次试验将采取20公斤的转弯样品，一旦证明进一步的200公斤负载将进行处理，然后在新委托的Liberty VIM雾化器上进行全面生产试验。试验成功将带来巨大的商业机会。

Many manufacturing processes produce waste materials which can be expensive to dispose of or are not readily recycled. This initiative is to take process contaminated metal waste turnings and machining by-products produced by our UK customer and convert them into a high purity, high value nickel alloy or stainless-steel powder for use in additive manufacturing/3D printing advanced applications including aerospace and medical. Upcycling of material is part of the Liberty / GFG Greensteel strategy and increases the value of an otherwise waste material by 10 times.The social restrictions due to the impact on the COVID 19 pandemic has added to the existing strain on the oil and gas industry and as such there is forecast to be a long term downturn in investment in the sector. As a result, there are large quantities of partially processed material within the UK oil and gas supply chain in addition to significant quantities of machining swarf generated in that industry.The proposal is for turnings to be processed in the UK to form a more manageable material to aid handling and melting for use in our 250kg Liberty Vacuum Induction Melting (VIM) furnace at the start of conversion to atomised powder. A finite element model will be developed to simulate induction melting of revert and turnings in various ratio. The model will guide the optimisation of furnace loading and melting process. First trials will take a 20kg sample of turnings and once proven a further 200kg load would be processed followed by full scale production trials on the newly commissioned Liberty VIM atomiser. Successful trial will lead to significant commercial opportunities.