3D printing makes it much less likely that traditional manufacturing techniques for material reduction to waste metal materials. Furthermore, 3D printers have the ability to directly form the product, which reduces the chances of equipment failures. For metal 3D printers, the basic material is metal powder. This basic property has a strong relationship with final product quality. It is important to consider the following requirements in metal 3D printer for powder: chemical composition, particle form, particle size and distribution, fluidity, recycling, etc.
chemical formula
There are two main types of chemical elements in raw materials: metal elements, and impurities. Fe, Ti. The most commonly used metal elements are N,A, Cu. Co. Cl and precious metals Ag, Au. Si, Mn.C, S.P.O. in reduced-iron, and other impurities, mixed from powder production and raw materials. Water and other gases are also added to powdered material.
The forming process can lead to impurities reacting with the matrix. These may alter the matrix’s properties which could cause adverse consequences. Powders that contain dopants could also melt unevenly, causing internal defects. The high oxygen content in metal powders makes it easy for them to oxidize, form oxide film and cause spheroidization. This can affect the product’s density and quality.
For quality products it is important that raw material powders are free from impurities or doping. 3D printing requires metal powders of high purity.
Particle Shape Particle Size Particle Size Distribution
1.Shape requirements. Common shapes include spherical (subspherical), flaky, needle, and other irregular forms. It is easier to increase the sintering speed if irregular particles have greater surface areas. However, powder with high-sphericity features good fluidity. Powder feeding is uniform and smooth. These characteristics are conducive for improving density and uniformity. 3D printing requires powder particles to be spherical and near-spherical.
2.Particle size of the powders and their distribution. Results show that powders can be melted or sintered through direct absorption of energy from laser or electron East scanning. It is important to note that smaller particles have a greater surface area. This means more energy can be absorbed direct. Also, higher temperatures will facilitate sintering. Also, small powder sizes, small gaps between particles and high levels of loose densities after they have been formed, are all conducive to improving product strength and quality. Too small particles can cause powder to adhere or agglomerate. This results in a decreased powder fluidity that affects both the flow and the uniformity of the powder.
In order to get the desired effect of forming, both fine and coarse particles should be mixed in a specific proportion.
Processing Power Requirements of the Powder
Technologies include powders with bulk density, compacting strength, fluidity and recycle performance.
1. Loose packing densities is the natural powder density. Vibrating Density is the result of vibrating. Powders with good sphericity have high bulk densities, low porosity and large distribution of particles. The parts that are formed after the powder has been shaped exhibit high density and great forming qualities.
2. Liquidity. Liquidity. This directly affects how uniform powder spreading is or whether powder feeding can be stable. Low powder fluidity leads to uneven product thicknesses and uneven metal melting in the scan area. It also affects the form quality. High-fluidity powder is easier to fluidize and deposits uniformly. The powder utilization rate is also high which makes it possible to increase the dimension accuracy as well surface uniformity and compactness for 3D printer parts.
3. Performance in the cylinder. After 3D printing, any powder left in the powder bed that has not been melted can be screened and used again. Under long-term high heat environments, however, some performance characteristics of the powder bed may change.
Cataniadagiocare advanced metal Tech Co., Ltd., (Cataniadagiocare), has over 12+ years of expertise in chemical products development and research. If you want high-quality Metal powder stainless steel, metal powder please contact us .
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