Authors:
Owen Larkin (The Manufacturing Technology Centre, United Kingdom),
Adam Hall (Malvern Panalytical, United Kingdom),
Robert Williams (Carpenter Additive, United Kingdom),
Charlie Francis (Farleygreene, United Kingdom),
David Buckley (Farleygreene, United Kingdom),
Tim Beaver (The Manufacturing Technology Centre, United Kingdom),
Victor Galert (Aegleteq, United Kingdom)
Abstract:
The quality and cleanliness of metal powder used in AM directly affects process-productivity and part-integrity. Current methods for powder validation rely on the collection and testing of samples from powder batches. As the AM industry grows and production of safety critical, high value components ramps up, the volume of powder being used will greatly increase. This will require the development of efficient, high-throughput and reliable powder validation tools. The approach developed in the Innovate-UK funded PowderCleanse project addresses these requirements by combining automated sieving and in-line particle size analysis in a digitally integrated closed loop powder handling solution. This allows for full traceability and monitoring of the powder condition at each stage. In this manuscript we will give an overview of the PowderCleanse project and present operational results, demonstrating that it can successfully convey, sieve and measure the particle size distribution (PSD) of a range of AM powders.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59499/WP225371725