Authors:
E. Rahimi (1), R. Birley (1), C. Fennell (1)
1- Materials Processing Institute, UK
Abstract:
The reuse of metal powder is an essential step to make the powder bed fusion (PBF) process cost-effective; therefore, understanding the capability of virgin powder is of high importance. Not all the powder is used to make parts in a PBF process. A significant proportion of the un-used powder is collected during de-powdering of the final part. This proportion and a small proportion in the waste chamber can be sieved for reuse. In this research, powder samples were reused until their flowability was below the acceptable level for re-coating. Before every process, morphology, size and flowability were evaluated using the index that was developed in the previous research presented at WorldPM2022 [1]. The index was modified based on the alloy type and reusability aspects and it has been proposed to predict the maximum reusability of virgin powder on the condition that acceptable flowability, morphological distributions and mechanical properties are maintained.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59499/EP235764680
