Evaluation of recycled and reused metal powders for DMLS 3D printing

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F49777513%3A23210%2F24%3A43973242" target="_blank" >RIV/49777513:23210/24:43973242 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

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DOI - Digital Object Identifier

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Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Evaluation of recycled and reused metal powders for DMLS 3D printing

Original language description

Metal powders for additive manufacturing are expensive and producing new ones from mined metals has a negative ecological impact on the planet. After each use, the remaining powder is sieved, reused or stored as waste. In some cases, the amount of residual powder can be up to 40 wt.%, of which up to 10 wt.% of the original material cannot be reused. For these reasons, there is a growing interest to reuse metal powders. In this work, recycled and reused metal powders from MS1 steel for Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) 3D printing were evaluated in the laboratory. The powders were recycled by melting followed by gas atomizing. Virgin, recycled and reused metal powders were evaluated using Scanning-Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy - Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), metallography analysis, microhardness measurements, Particle Size Distribution (PSD), shape factor by Digital Image Processing (DIP) and flowability test. The results showed that the size distribution and the shape of the particles were modified after being reused and recycled. The mean particle size of the used powder was higher than that of virgin powder, while the the recycled powder exhibited the opposite trend. The shape factor of the recycled powder decreased after recycling. The microhardness of the recycled samples (147±10 HV) was lower than that of the virgin samples (241±29 HV) but the values for the reused samples (283±24 HV) increased. Microstructural analysis showed that some NiTi precipitates were formed in the recycled powder. Also, the aluminum and chromium content for the used powder increased. The flowability of the reused and recycled powders showed a reduction with respect to the virgin powder, being the recycled powder more significantly affected.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

O - Miscellaneous

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

20501 - Materials engineering

Project

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Continuities

S - Specificky vyzkum na vysokych skolach

Publication year

2024

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů