Experimental approach for development of a powder spreading metric in additive manufacturing

The powder spreading is a vital step of powder-based additive manufacturing (AM) processes. The quality of spread powder can considerably influence the properties of fabricated parts. Poorly packed powder beds with high surface roughness result in printed part layers with large porosity and low dime...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of advanced manufacturing technology 2023-05, Vol.126 (1-2), p.371-380
Main Authors: Sehhat, M. Hossein, Sutton, Austin T., Yates, Zane, Leu, Ming C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accuracy
Additive manufacturing
Advanced manufacturing technologies
Angle of repose
CAE) and Design
Computer-Aided Engineering (CAD
Density
Design of experiments
Engineering
Industrial and Production Engineering
Manufacturing
Mechanical Engineering
Mechanical properties
Media Management
Original Article
Particle size
Particle size distribution
Powder beds
Process parameters
Raw materials
Surface roughness
Thickness
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Summary:The powder spreading is a vital step of powder-based additive manufacturing (AM) processes. The quality of spread powder can considerably influence the properties of fabricated parts. Poorly packed powder beds with high surface roughness result in printed part layers with large porosity and low dimensional accuracy, leading to poor mechanical properties. Therefore, the powder spreadability and its dependence on process parameters and powder characteristics should be quantified to improve the efficiency of powder-based AM methods. This study proposes a novel dimensionless powder spreadability metric that can be commonly used in different powder-based AM processes. The quality of spread powder in terms of powder bed density and surface roughness was evaluated by adjusting the process parameters including recoating velocity and layer thickness, and powder characteristics including particle size distribution. In addition, the dynamic repose angle was proposed and examined as another powder spreadability metric. The results showed that these two proposed metrics were strongly correlated and lower recoating velocity and larger layer thickness led to higher spreadability and lower dynamic repose angle.
ISSN:0268-3768
1433-3015
DOI:10.1007/s00170-023-11120-x