Feasibility study of Hot Isostatic Pressing of tool steel powder with Alternative Particle size distributions (HIPAS)

增材制造（AM）由于其设计自由度和高度灵活性，在过去5年中获得了显著的发展势头，金属行业的年增长率超过30%。据预测，AM的快速增长将在未来10年内持续，并达到超过450亿美元的市场规模。许多激光粉末床熔合工艺需要窄尺寸范围的粉末，例如15至45微米。这给粉体生产商带来了巨大的挑战。一个最先进的气体雾化器，如自由粉末金属（LPM），只能产生约40%的粉末在15-45的大小范围。对于其他雾化技术，例如等离子体旋转电极工艺（PREP），产率甚至低至10%。在其他尺寸范围内生产的粉末通常以填埋或回收结束。AM粉末的低产量不可避免地导致了粉末成本的高企。在LPM，我们通过使用回收材料降低原料成本和通过新颖的喷嘴设计提高产量来积极追求成本降低。然而，迫切需要找到用于AM尺寸范围之外的粉末的解决方案。该项目是在与英国最大的工具钢股东Carrs Tool Steels（CTS）讨论新的LPM雾化器如何使粉末金属供应链业务受益并在Covid-19大流行后产生更快的复苏后出现的。该项目提出了一种新的解决方案，使用PM-HIP的替代粉末粒度分布，而不是目前所需的全粉末粒度范围。该项目的成功将使粉末生产商降低粉末成本，加速采用环境友好的净成形（PM-HIP）和AM制造技术。这将大大增强英国粉末金属行业的整体竞争力。

Additive manufacturing (AM) has gained significant momentum in the past 5 years due to its freedom in design and high flexibility, with an annual growth rate over 30% in metal sectors. It was predicted the rapid growth of AM will continue for the next 10 years and reach a market size over $45B. Many laser powder bed fusion processes require powder in a narrow size range, for example from 15 to 45 microns. This creates a great challenge for powder producer. A state-of-art gas atomiser, such the one at Liberty Powder Metals (LPM), can only produce about 40% powder in the 15-45 size range. For other atomising technologies, such as plasma rotating electrode process (PREP), the yield is even as low as 10%. Powder produced in other size range often ends in landfill or recycling. The low yield in AM powder has inevitably led to high powder cost.At LPM, we are actively pursuing cost reduction by lowering feedstock cost using recycled material and yield improvement by novel nozzle design. However, there is an urgent need to find a solution for powder outside of AM size range. This project has emerged following discussions with Carrs Tool Steels (CTS), the largest tool steel stockholder in the UK, on how the new LPM's atomiser could benefit the powder metal supply chain businesses and produce a faster recovery following the Covid-19 pandemic. This project proposes a new solution using alternative powder size distribution for PM-HIP, rather than a full powder size range currently required. The success of this project will enable powder producer to reduce powder cost, accelerating the adoption of environment friendly net-shape (PM-HIP) and AM manufacturing technologies. It will significantly strengthen the overall competitiveness of UK powder metal sectors.