材料

新研究提出了用于金属粉末选择的适用性因素

Ecole de Technologie Superieurein Montreal, Canada, and a separate industrial cluster, has proposed a new Additive Manufacturing Suitability (AMS) factor that can rank the printability of metal powders for laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) processes.

两组研究都利用了Micromeritics公司的FT4粉状流变仪Freeman Technologyto measure the dynamic, shear and bulk properties of powders and combine them into a single metric. This metric, the AMS factor, is then able to differentiate printability in a way that conventional powder testers cannot, according to the researchers.

“Many in the AM community, from powder and machine suppliers to end-users, would like to be able to reliably test a powder for printability, said Jamie Clayton, Operations Director at Freeman Technology.

“Work such as this demonstrates progress towards this goal, emerging consensus with respect to the need to measure multiple parameters, and the value of dynamic flow properties.”

New research establishes the concept of an 'AM Suitability' factor for metal powder selection. Image via Freeman Technology.
New research establishes the concept of an ‘AM Suitability’ factor for metal powder selection. Image via Freeman Technology.

改善LPBF 3D打印

Over the last few years, researchers and industry players alike have boosted efforts to improve andenhance the LPBF 3D printing process为了避免金属印刷零件的缺陷. According to leading additive manufacturing experts, thefuture of 3D printing未来的这一领域可能会看到不断增长的进展。

这样的尝试使用LEDs instead of lasers融化粉末,开发“smart” baseplates,更好平衡构建室内的热量减少组件的残余压力和失真。

去年9月,科学家们德克萨斯农工大学通过引入通用方法来进一步发展这项工作3D打印完美的金属零件通过LPBF使用单轨打印数据和机器学习。同时,研究人员Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory(llnl)揭示了他们的计划explore alternative laser beam shapesto the Gaussian beams commonly used in LPBF, with the aim of reducing porosity and defects in metal parts.

现在,在LPBF印刷领域的最新研究正在寻求回答“我可以用这种粉末打印吗?”的问题,并帮助公司和个人选择金属粉末。

Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) 3D printing in an EOS machine. Photo via EOS
Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) additive manufacturing at German 3D printer OEM EOS. Photo via EOS

AMS因素

弗里曼技术FT4粉状流变仪is a universal powder flow tester for measuring powder flow properties and behavior. Initially designed to characterize the rheology of powders and powder flow properties, the FT4 has been developed into a ‘universal powder flow tester’ with three main abilities.

The first of these abilities is to simulate powder processing conditions, the second is to apply multi-faceted powder characterization to assess dynamic powder flow, bulk, and shear properties, and the third is to enable the differentiation of powders that other testers classify as identical.

The printability of 3D printing powders is often assessed through print trials due to the difficulty of establishing a relevant specification, however this is a time-consuming, inefficient, and costly process. To address this, researches at the Ecole de Technologie Superieure leveraged the FT4 to rank the processability of Ti-6Al-4V powders by combining the tester’s multiple measurements into a single metric, the AMS factor. The resulting AMS value was then correlated with the powder’s print performance.

According to the researchers, traditional powder testing techniques, such as flow through an orifice or tapped density methods, proved unable to provide sensitive and relevant differentiation in comparison to the AMS factor.

A second research group formed of industry partners later built on this concept. They used a modified AMS factor to successfully assess the processability of metal powders for in-situ alloying within an LPBF 3D printing process.

“We’re delighted that the FT4 can successfully rank print performance,” said Clayton. “For us powder testing is all about improving process efficiency and product performance and this is a great example of it doing just that.”

Further information on the studies referenced can be found in paper titled:“Influence of particle morphology and size distribution on the powder flowability and laser powder bed fusion manufacturability of Ti-6Al-4V alloy,”由S. Brika,M。Letenneur,C。Dion和V. Brailovski发表在《添加剂制造杂志》上,并在题为:“In situ alloying in powder bed fusion: The role of powder morphology,”发表在《材料科学与工程杂志》上,由M. Knieps,W。Reynolds,J。Dejaune,A。Clare和A. Evirgen合着。

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Featured image shows新研究确定了用于金属粉末选择的“ AM适合性”因素的概念。图片通过Freeman技术。

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