Intelligent System for the Efficient Classification of Metal Powders for Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

The article reviews the additive manufacturing method of Selective Laser Melting (SLM) with metal ­powders to identify the high demands on particle size and shape for SLM metal powders. During production the raw powder from a gas atomization system needs to de-dust to improve the flowability and the top-cut has to be defined precisely. It is described how both tasks can be achieved with a 3-fractions-classifier in a single processing step. Thanks to the fine adjustable cut points of both classifying steps, the available raw material from the atomization process can be used in an optimum manner and a final sieving step is dispensable.

Graphical Abstract