Essential characterization of metal powder for additive manufacturing

Abstract

The aerospace industry is mostly focused on complex, low production volume as the components are often known with complicated internal geometries and dimensions. Heavy market competitions and restrictions in high manufacturing cost could be overcome with additive manufacturing (AM). AM has received notable attention in its ability to produce customized metal parts and exhibiting top-notch capabilities that would lead the AM industry in the future. Nonetheless, in producing trusted, high-quality products, characteristics of metal powders should be accounted so it would meet proper quality such as powder morphology, particle size distribution, porosity, and powder’s ability to flow. SEM, OM, laser diffraction and rheometer are suggested in studying the powder’s characteristics. All characterization methods found are used practically. These characteristics are important to assess AM quality. Comparison in different aerospace materials is studied to get the actual material combination in getting an optimum metallurgical bond between the substrate and molten pool of the powders. Therefore, characterization methods of 3D metal additive and characteristics of aerospace materials are evaluated and presented systematically.