Abstract
Metal powders suitable for use in powder bed additive manufacturing processes should ideally be spherical, dense, chemically pure and of a specified particle size distribution. Ti6Al4V is commonly used in the aerospace, medical and automotive industries due to its high strength-to-weight ratio and excellent corrosion resistance properties. Interstitial impurities in titanium alloys have an impact upon mechanical properties, particularly oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen and carbon. The plasma spheroidisation process can be used to spheroidise metal powder consisting of irregularly shaped particles. In this study, the plasma spheroidisation of metal powder was performed on Ti6Al4V powder consisting of irregularly shaped particles. The properties of the powder relevant for powder bed fusion that were determined included the particle size distribution, morphology, particle porosity and chemical composition. Conclusions were drawn regarding the viability of using this process to produce powder suitable for additive manufacturing.
Highlights
South Africa has a vision to raise its profile on the global business stage by adding value to its titanium-bearing mineral resource through turning it into metal powder that would be suitable for additive manufacturing (AM)
The characteristics of the Ti6Al4V powder after spheroidisation are presented in terms of particle morphology, size distribution, porosity and chemical composition based on the analytical techniques used
The results presented in this paper indicated an average D90 size of 78.57 μm, which is a higher number than those of both DMLS and LaserCusing powders
Summary
South Africa has a vision to raise its profile on the global business stage by adding value to its titanium-bearing mineral resource through turning it into metal powder that would be suitable for additive manufacturing (AM). In South Africa, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) built a pilot plant that produces commercially pure titanium powder [2]. The titanium powder is produced in this plant through the continuous stepwise metallothermic reduction of titanium tetrachloride in a molten salt medium. These titanium powders produced at the CSIR are intended to be used in various downstream manufacturing processes, such as AM, powder metallurgy and investment casting. Powder consisting of spherical particles is usually produced by atomisation methods or plasma spheroidisation (PS) [5]
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