Authors:
Ali N. Alagha (1), Emilio Galindo (1), Mathilde Rossier (1,2), Martin Conlon (3), José Muñiz (3), Kamran Azari (3), Evan Butler-Jones (3), Mathieu Brochu (1)
1-Department of Mining and Materials Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
2-University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland, Sion, Switzerland
3-Equispheres Inc., Ottawa, Canada
Abstract:
In powder bed additive manufacturing processes, factors like moisture, oxidation, and surface contamination can impact powder cohesion leading to flow behavior degradation and ultimately part quality-related issues. Unfortunately, most of the existing powder characterization tools are either time-consuming/expensive to run or lack required sensitivity to precisely assess variations in powder surface conditions. Triboelectric charging, a phenomenon resulting from the contact and separation of materials, has recently gained attention as a method allowing differentiation of powder surface composition. Triboelectric charging is highly influenced by several powder characteristics including particle size, morphology, and surface composition. The focus of this presentation is to highlight the effect of surface chemistry on the triboelectric charging behavior of various aluminum alloy powders. This presentation will show the links between tribocharging response of various powders and their X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) signature, to demonstrate how triboelectric charging can be used as a quick method to characterize powder surfaces.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59499/EP246281050
