3D printing Metals are metals that are reduced to fine particles and are the basic base material for most 3D printing processes for producing metal parts. 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing (AM), is a method of manufacturing parts and products layer by layer. The characteristics of the metal powder and the type of 3D printing process determine the characteristics of the final product.
To ensure accurate reproduction in the production of metal parts, metal 3D powder must show consistent characteristics. It is characterized by size distribution and morphology. Other physicochemical properties include density, compressibility, sinterability, chemical composition, green strength, surface area, fluidity and thermal properties.
Preparation of metal 3D printing
In order to produce metal powders with the desired characteristics and powder quality and depending on the required performance of the metal parts to be manufactured from the powder, the choice of powder production process can vary.
Researchers can use a variety of methods to produce metal powders, including solid-state reduction, grinding, electrolysis, chemical processes, and atomization. However, since atomization produces the geometrically most convenient powder for 3D printing, atomization has been regarded as the best method for producing metal powder for AM.
Atomization can be carried out in three different forms: water atomization, gas atomization and plasma atomization. However, water atomization causes the particles to have a highly irregular morphology because the solidification speed of the particles is faster than their spheroidization time, which makes the water atomization method unsuitable for specialized AM.
1. Gas atomization: In this process, the alloy ingot is used as the raw material to melt in the furnace, in this process, the vacuum induction melting (VIM) furnace is used to monitor the gap elements. The furnace is located above the atomization chamber and is used to discharge materials directly into the atomizer. When the melt falls through the chamber, high-pressure gas is sprayed to atomize the material, after which the material solidifies into spherical powder particles and collects at the bottom. The gas medium used in the experiment is usually an inert gas, such as nitrogen or argon, which can minimize the possibility of oxidation and pollution. In addition, air can also be used as a gaseous medium. By adjusting the ratio of gas to melt flow rate, the particle size distribution (0-500μm) can be adjusted to a certain extent. Some powder materials produced by gas atomization are nickel, iron, aluminum and cobalt.
2. Plasma nebulization: In this method, the raw material enters the nebulization chamber in two possible forms (wire or powder form). In the chamber, the coaxial plasma torch and the gas nozzle simultaneously melt and atomize the material, producing extremely spherical powder particles with a relatively finer size distribution (0-200 μm), after which titanium is produced by plasma atomization.
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