Enhanced mechanical properties by laser powder bed fusion using cost-effective hydride-dehydride titanium powders

Characterization, preparation, and reuse of metallic powders for laser powder bed fusion: a review

“…Apart from the atomization method, powder modification and mechanical methods have also been implemented to fabricate metallic powders for L-PBF [79]. Fluidized bed, a cost-affordable powder preparation method, is mainly used to modify the morphology of irregular-shaped powders to improve the flowability [22][23][24][25]. Furthermore, a cost and energy-effective powder fabrication process, named as CMD, has been used in L-PBF to produce Al alloy powders with a high yield and efficiency recently [27].…”

“…The printing parameters play a significant role in the mechanical performance of fluidized bed-treated Ti powders. When the scanning speed is 1200 mm•s −1 , the as-built pure Ti exhibits a good synergy of strength and ductility (figure 6(d)), which are superior to those prepared by GA and unmodified HDH powders as shown in figure 6(e) [24]. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the fatigue properties of the L-PBF pure Ti parts fabricated with fluidized bed-treated HDH Ti powders are comparable to those of conventionally fabricated pure Ti parts and L-PBF Ti-6Al-4V parts [24].…”

“…For instance, commercially pure titanium (CP-Ti) or Ti alloy powders prepared by GA, PA, and PREP (US$250-300 per kg) for L-PBF [144] are far more expensive than the hydrogenation-dehydrogenation (HDH) Ti powders [145] (around US$30 per kg [79]), which cannot be directly used for L-PBF due to highly irregular morphology and poor flowability [79]. To this end, a fluidized bed has been implemented to modify the low-cost irregular-shaped metallic powders [22][23][24][25]. Fluidized bed improves the flowability of the irregular-shaped powders and makes them printable for L-PBF.…”

“…Apart from HDH Ti powders [22][23][24], the fluidized bed also enables the modification of pre-alloyed WMoTaTi refractory high-entropy alloy (RHEA) powders [25]. The as-built WMoTaTi RHEA based on the fluidized bed-treated powders shows a comparable microhardness ((617.2 ± 4.1) HV) relative to that of other RHEA systems [25].…”

“…The basic principle of the atomization process is the breakup of molten liquid into fine particles. Apart from the atomization process, a cost-affordable powder preparation method named as a fluidized bed has been implemented to modify the surface of the irregular-shaped powders [22][23][24][25], making them printable. Moreover, the yield ratio of powders based on the atomization process is generally in the range of 20%-40% [26], and it is necessary to explore novel powder manufacturing methods with a higher yield ratio to reduce costs.…”