Abstract
Additive manufacturing (AM) is today in the main focus—and not only in commercial production. Products with complex geometry can be built using various AM techniques, which include laser sintering of metal powder. Although the technique has been known for a quite long time, the impact of the morphology of individual powder particles on the process has not yet been adequately documented. This article presents a detailed microscopic analysis of virgin and reused powder particles of MS1 maraging steel. The metallographic observation was performed using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The particle size of the individual powder particles was measured in the SEM and the particle surface morphology and its change in the reused powder were observed. Individual particles were analyzed in detail using an SEM with a focused ion beam (FIB) milling capability. The powder particles were gradually cut off in thin layers so that their internal structure, chemical element distribution, possible internal defects, and shape could be monitored. Elemental distribution and phase distribution were analyzed using EDS and EBSD, respectively. Our findings lead to a better understanding and prediction of defects in additive-manufactured products. This could be helpful not just in the AM field, but in any metal powder-based processes, such as metal injection molding, powder metallurgy, spray deposition processes, and others.
Highlights
Additive manufacturing technology (AM) is able to create high-quality intricately shaped metal parts for use in the aerospace, automotive or medical industries
It was found that the proportion of small particles (
The measurements carried out in this study might differ slightly from those made by the manufacturer because of the carried out in this study might differ slightly from those made by the manufacturer because of the measuring method, which was carried out by scanning electron microscope (SEM) in this paper and according to ASTM B214 standard measuring method, which was carried out by SEM in this paper and according to ASTM B214 by the manufacturer
Summary
Additive manufacturing technology (AM) is able to create high-quality intricately shaped metal parts for use in the aerospace, automotive or medical industries. Unlike conventional subtractive manufacturing processes, where the material is removed in order to obtain the desired shape, many additive manufacturing techniques work on the principle of adding and sintering individual layers of material. In this way, it is possible to produce complex-shaped parts that may contain a plurality of internal elements, such as cooling channels [1,2]. The size of the sieve openings depends on the requirements of the AM technology and on the desired quality of the parts to be built This makes it possible to efficiently use up to 97% of the input material [3,4]
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