A Statistical Analysis of Powder Flowability in Metal Additive Manufacturing Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • The quality of parts fabricated with additive manufacturing is influenced by the flowability of the feedstock particles, which is the result of many factors, including chemistry (e.g., true density, the presence of surface oxides, and impurities), morphology (e.g., particle shape and the presence of satellites), and particle size distribution. This work investigates the relationship between powder characteristics and flow behavior of different powders using three flowability testing methods. Six powders of two compositions (316L stainless steel and AlSi10Mg), made using two different methods (gas and wateratomization), are investigated to rationalize the effect of powder chemistry and morphology on flow behavior. The results show that the true density of the powders can influence several flowability metrics. In addition, aspect ratio strongly influences the initiation of flow from a static condition, whereas average particle size strongly dictates the ease of maintaining that flow.

published proceedings

  • Advanced Engineering Materials

author list (cited authors)

  • Kiani, P., Bertoli, U. S., Dupuy, A. D., Ma, K., & Schoenung, J. M.

complete list of authors

  • Kiani, Parnian||Bertoli, Umberto Scipioni||Dupuy, Alexander D||Ma, Kaka||Schoenung, Julie M

publication date

  • October 2020

publisher