Contact person
Mikael Eriksson
Laboratorieingenjör
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Powder characterization for additive manufacturing
It is of great importance that the quality of the metallic powder that is used in additive manufacturing is high, why it is important to be able to analyze and quality assure the raw material prior to the manufacturing.
Purpose
The properties of metal powders intended for powder bed-based processes such as Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF), Metal Binder Jetting (MBJ), and Directed Energy Deposition (DED), etc, are critical to the process functionality as well as final material quality. There are several methods for characterizing the metal powder, which with the right interpretation provides a support in predicting or verifying the impact on the functionality. RISE provides a number of methods for characterizing the physical properties of a powder, flowability and packing ability, which affects the result in powder bed-based additive manufacturing (AM).
Method
Powder density is measured by heliumpycnometry (AccuPyk 1330, Micromeritics).
Particle size distrubution (PSD) is measured by laser diffraction (Mastersizer 3000, Malvern).
Specific surface area (SSA) is measured by gas adsorption using BET-methodology (Gemini II, Micromeritics).
Morphology (particle shape) is measured by image analysis in SEM.
The powder flowability is decisive for how feeding, spreading, and packing in a powder bed process work. A powder rheometer (FT4, Freemantech) is used to measure flow energy, bulk density in a conditioned and tapped state, cohesion and other flow-related parameters for correlation to processability. Traditional Hall flow is usually performed as complementary.
Deliveries
The results are delivered according to agreement, usually in the form of a written report, which can be supplemented with an oral presentation via PowerPoint.
More information
This is one of many services included in the Application center for additive manufacturing. For more information visit:
