Authors:
Ehsan Rahimi (Materials Processing Institute, United Kingdom),
Adam Hunt (Materials Processing Institute, United Kingdom)
Abstract:
Physical properties of metal powder such as flowability, spreadability and packing density are critical to the performance of powder bed additive manufacturing (AM) processes. This research offers a versatile approach to evaluating metal powders for the laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) process by correlating morphological classifications against the physical properties of the powder and processability during the powder bed re-coating process. Static image analysis was used to measure and classify the powders by a predefined set of rules based on shape descriptors of the powders. These classification groups quantify the powders in terms of highly circular, circular, minor satellited, major satellited, elongated, agglomerated and undersized particles. These classifications were compared against data from a rotating drum test and an automated dynamic tap density analyser. A new weighted index has been proposed to represent the combined influence of size and morphological classifications on the flowability and processability of powders for L-PBF.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59499/WP225371917