Investigations of aging behaviour for aluminium powders during an atmosphere simulation of the LBM process

ABSTRACT

Additive layer manufacturing (ALM) offers for production of parts and components for aeronautical applications potential cost benefits over conventional manufacturing routes. In particular, powder bed processes offer a high degree of design flexibility while enabling weight reduction due to topological optimisation. The quality and properties of the parts are strongly dependent on the powder quality which, in turn, is influenced by handling and storage of the powder. For this reasons an undefined contamination of atomised powder materials by oxygen and hydrogen has to be avoided. Aluminium-silicon powder was aged under atmosphere of different moistures and temperatures for defined duration. The effect of these environments as well as the effect of vacuum drying on the flowability was investigated. The morphology was evaluated by scanning electron microscope. The chemistry including oxygen content of the powder was measured by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry and hot fusion analysis.

KEYWORDS:

• Additive manufacturing
• LBM
• SLM
• aluminium-silicon
• AlSi10Mg
• AlSi7Mg
• aging
• powder recycling

Acknowledgements

The present investigations are supported by the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Media, Energy and Technology and corresponding project partners of the Ludwig Bölkow Campus within the frame of the project KonRAT (Komponenten von Raketentriebwerken für Anwendungen in Transportsystemen der Luft- und Raumfahrt – LABAY83C). The authors would like to thank the project sponsor, as well as the corresponding project partners.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Dominik M. Bauer, PhD Student, Airbus Group Innovations, Munich, Germany.

Elisabeth Schwarzenböck, PhD Student Airbus Group Innovations, Munich, Germany.

Ina Ludwig, B.Sc., University Duisburg – Essen, Duisburg, Germany.

Norbert Schupp, Research Engineer, Airbus Group Innovations, Munich, Germany.

Frank Palm, Senior Expert Welding & Additive Manufacturing, Airbus Group Innovations, Munich, Germany.

Professor Dr.-Ing. habil. Gerd Witt, Chairman Institute of Product Engineering, University Duisburg – Essen, Duisburg, Germany.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Wirtschaft und Medien, Energie und Technologie: [Grant Number LABAY83C].