Synchrotron X-ray computed tomography analysis of the morphological characterization of aluminum alloy powders produced by gas atomization

Abstract

Gas atomization (GA) is a highly efficient and cost-effective method of producing metal powder for additive manufacturing. However, powders with defects can significantly reduce the performance of manufactured components. Therefore, accurately characterizing powder morphology is crucial to evaluating powder quality. This study uses synchrotron X-ray computed tomography (SXCT) to measure the characteristics of aluminum alloy powders. Morphological parameters such as mean Feret diameter, aspect ratio, sphericity, etc., are obtained from reconstructed 3D images. Statistical analysis shows that as particle size increases from <38.5 μm to >100 μm, the proportion of satellite and hollow powders increases from 25.97% to 59.29% and from 3.60% to 13.60%, respectively, while the proportion of irregular powder only slightly decreases about 3%. Additionally, the irregularity of the powder increases with increasing diameter. Overall, this study highlights the importance of characterizing powder morphology and demonstrates the potential of SXCT for such analysis.