Abstract
In the additive manufacturing of metal materials, powder bed fusion 3D laser printing is the most widely used processing method. The density of the packed bed is another important parameter that can affect the part quality; however, it is the least understood parameter and needs further study. Aiming at addressing the problem of the powder packing density in the powder tank before powder spreading, which is neglected in the existing research, a combination of numerical simulation and experimental research was used to analyze the powder particle size distribution, powder stiffness coefficient, and vibration condition. Considering the van der Waals forces between the powders, a discrete element model suitable for fine metal powders for 3D printing is proposed. At the same time, a mathematical model that takes into account the vibration state is proposed, and the factors affecting the density of the powder were analyzed. A self-designed and manufactured three-dimensional vibration test rig was used to conduct physical experiments on spherical metal powders with approximately Gaussian distributions to obtain the maximum densities. The results obtained by the numerical simulation analysis method proposed in this paper are in good agreement with the experimental results. The influence of the amplitude and vibration frequency on the powder packing density is the same; that is, it increases with an increase in amplitude or frequency, and then decreases with a further increase in amplitude or frequency after reaching the maximum. It is unreasonable to discuss the packing densification only relying on the vibration intensity. Therefore, it is necessary to combine the amplitude and frequency to analyze the factors that affect the packing density of powders.
Highlights
Additive manufacturing (AM) is a layer-by-layer processing method
Analyze the factors that affect the packing density of the powder in the powder container
(1) The typical powder size of the powder used in 3D printing is less than 100 μm, which belongs to the category of fine powder
Summary
Additive manufacturing (AM) is a layer-by-layer processing method. Powder bed fusion is an important method for manufacturing industrial-grade components, including selective laser melting (SLM), selective laser sintering (SLS) [1,2] and selective electron beam melting (SEBM) [3]. The impact of the packing of particles another parameter of critical importance as outlined by many studies but is among the least understood in the powder cylinder on the quality of the final parts is ignored. In order to analyze the packing density in a powder delivery system, a combination of numerical simulation and experimental research was used to study the effects of the powder stiffness, powder particle size distribution, and vibration state on the powder packing density. The experimental results were compared with the numerical simulation results in order to realize the high-density packing of spherical powder particles with Gaussian particle size distributions, and obtain the corresponding optimal parameters, which lays the foundation for further research on the density of spherical powder particles and guidance for industrial applications
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