Abstract
Powder-bed based Additive Manufacturing is a class of Additive Manufacturing (AM) processes that bond successive layers of powder by laser melting to facilitate the creation of parts with complex geometries. As AM technology transitions from the fabrication of prototypes to end-use parts, the understanding of the powder properties needed to reliably produce parts of acceptable quality becomes critical. Consequently, this has led to the use of powder characterization techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), laser light diffraction, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and differential thermal analysis (DTA) to both qualitatively and quantitatively study the effect of powder characteristics on part properties. Utilization of these powder characterization methods to study particle size and morphology, chemical composition, and microstructure of powder has resulted in significant strides being made towards the optimization of powder properties for powder-bed based AM processes. This paper reviews methods commonly used in characterizing metallic AM powders, and the effects of powder characteristics on the part properties in these AM processes.
Recommended Citation
A. T. Sutton et al., "Powders for Additive Manufacturing Processes: Characterization Techniques and Effects on Part Properties," Proceedings of the 27th Annual International Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium (2016, Austin, TX), pp. 1004-1030, University of Texas at Austin, Aug 2016.
Meeting Name
27th Annual International Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium -- An Additive Manufacturing Conference (2016: Aug. 8-10, Austin, TX)
Department(s)
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Second Department
Materials Science and Engineering
Research Center/Lab(s)
Intelligent Systems Center
Document Type
Article - Conference proceedings
Document Version
Final Version
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Publication Date
10 Aug 2016
Comments
This work has been funded by Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies under Contract No. DE-NA0002839 with the U.S. Department of Energy.