Study on the process of TC4 powders prepared by electrode induction melting gas atomization for laser 3D printing

Abstract

This study employed TC4 rod as raw material to fabricate TC4 powders for laser 3D printing via electrode induction melting gas atomization (EIGA). The morphologies, phase compositions, particle size distributions, apparent densities and flowabilities of the powders were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), laser particle size analyzer (LPS) and Hall flowmeter, respectively. Moreover, the effects of gas atomization pressure and melting temperature on the yield of TC4 powders for laser 3D printing were studied. The results showed that TC4 powders morphology was nearly regular spherical. The particle size of TC4 powders showed a single peak normal distribution, mainly distributed in the range of 15−180 μm. The powder was α’−Ti of a single phase solid solution. The optimum parameters were gas atomization pressure of 5MPa, melting temperature of 1750°. Under the optimized condition, the average particle size D50 was 60.2 μm, the yield of printable TC4 powders was 35.6%, the flowability was 41.2 s/50g, the apparent density was 2.76 g/cm3 and oxygen content was 800 ppm, which was in line with the ASTM test standard and was conformed to the requirement for laser 3D printing.