A method for the preparation of spherical titanium powder for additive manufacturing

Abstract

In this work, a new method was designed and developed to produce spherical Ti powder for additive manufacturing (AM) process. In this method, copper was introduced to form Ti-Cu alloy with a low melting point, and spherical Ti powder was prepared by combining with several low-cost processing techniques, including solid-liquid interface dewetting spheroidization, dealloying, sintering and de‑oxygenation processes. The spherical Ti powder prepared by this method shows a low oxygen content (<0.1 wt%), and the particle size was controlled between 15 and 75 μm. Compared with the current mature technology of the preparation of spherical titanium powder, this method provideds unique advantages during the preparation of small-sized spherical Ti powder (<30 μm), which meets the requirements of high-quality AM technology. • A new method was designed and developed to produce spherical Ti powder. • Techniques and raw materials are low cost. • Spherical Ti powder with controllable size distribution and low oxygen content can be produced.