Accelerated development of aluminum alloys for additive manufacturing

加法制造(AM)，又名3D打印是指以逐层方式将计算机辅助绘图直接转换为成品的技术；通常，这涉及到在激光的帮助下将粉末原料固结。被许多人视为即将颠覆整个制造企业的技术，AM产品的全球市场估值正在飙升，到2025年，AM的年度经济影响预计将超过2,500亿美元。作为AM金属产品的先驱力量，加拿大将成为这一增长的主要受益者之一，使我们的全国AM市场在同一时间框架内成熟到140亿美元/年。随着加拿大对AM的影响力继续积极扩大，对这种预测的信心当然是有必要的。例如，它现在是一系列领先的金属粉末生产商、AM设备制造商、通过AM商业生产金属产品的公司的所在地，以及越来越多的世界级AM研究机构。为了充分利用加拿大在AM方面的势头，并最大限度地提高国家利用现有机会的能力，需要在几个方面进行研究。在这些问题中，合金的发展是非常关键和及时的。例如，在铝AM的情况下，只有一种合金(AlSi10 MG)获得了ASTM认证，但成熟的铝成形技术(锻造、铸造)可以达到600多种。HQP应努力通过加速开发用于AM的先进铝合金来解决这一技术差距。在这里，HQP将有能力完成生产的所有阶段的动手实验-粉末制造(气体雾化)、粉末固结(激光粉末床融合(L-PBF)、激光定向能沉积(L-DED))、AM后加工和材料表征。通过利用组合类型的方法，利用L-DED的能力，在一个制造周期内在各种工艺参数下生产具有独特化学成分的大量试件，将加快合金发现的步伐。HQP还应调查抑制了工业对铝AM(增强的激光反射率)吸收的基本限制。毕晓普博士精通粉末冶金(PM)相关领域创新铝粉的开发和商业化。他的团队获得专利的几项成果现在被用于越来越多突破性的汽车零部件的工业制造。其中两个获得了多产的行业奖项，为PM部门带来了全新的增长论坛，并促进了温室气体排放的切实减少。结合他在铝粉方面的全面经验，以及他最近推出的AM研究新设施，他现在处于有利地位，可以为他的最新挑战-AM行业-开发创新的铝粉并将其商业化。

Additive manufacturing (AM), a.k.a. 3D printing, refers to technologies that convert a computer aided drawing directly into a finished product in a layer-by-layer fashion; commonly, this involves a powdered feed stock that is consolidated with the aid of a laser. Viewed by many as technology that will soon disrupt the entire manufacturing enterprise, valuation of the global market for AM products is soaring upward with the annual economic impact of AM expected to surpass $250B by 2025. As a pioneering force in AM of metallic products, Canada is poised to be one of the major benefactors of this growth such that our national AM market will mature to $14B/yr over this same time frame. Confidence in such predictions is certainly warranted as Canada's influence on AM continues to expand aggressively. For instance, it is now home to a series of leading metal powder producers, AM equipment manufacturers, firms that are commercially producing metallic products via AM, and a growing list of world-class AM research facilities. To fully capitalize on Canada's momentum in AM and maximize national capacity to exploit the opportunities that exist, research is needed on several fronts. Of these, alloy development is exceptionally critical and timely. For instance, in the case of aluminum AM, only a single alloy (AlSi10Mg) has achieved ASTM recognition yet mature aluminum forming technologies (wrought, cast) can access over 600. HQP shall strive to address this technology gap by developing advanced aluminum alloys for AM in an accelerated fashion. Here, HQP will be empowered with the capacity to complete hands-on experiments at all stages of production - powder fabrication (gas atomization), powder consolidation (laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF), laser directed energy deposition (L-DED)), post-AM processing, and material characterization. The pace of alloy discovery will be intensified by utilizing a combinatorial-type of approach that leverages the capacity of the L-DED to produce numerous test specimens with unique chemistries under wide ranges of process parameters in a single build cycle. HQP shall also investigate a fundamental constraint that has dampened industry uptake of aluminum AM (heightened laser reflectivity). Dr. Bishop is very well versed in the development and commercialization of innovative aluminum powders for the related field of powder metallurgy (PM). Several of the outcomes patented by his team are now exploited in the industrial fabrication of a growing number of ground-breaking automotive components. Two of these have received prolific industry awards, ushered in completely new forums of growth for the PM sector, and facilitated tangible reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Coupling his comprehensive experience with aluminum powders together with his recent launch of a new facility for AM research, he is in an excellent position to now develop and commercialize innovative aluminum powders for his latest challenge - the AM sector.