In-situ experiment tests and particulate simulations on powder paving process of additive manufacturing--颗粒学报PARTICUOLOGY

Cheng, T., Chen, H., Teng, Q., & Wei, Q. (2023). In-situ experiment tests and particulate simulations on powder paving process of additive manufacturing. Particuology, 74, 164-172. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.partic.2022.07.001

In-situ experiment tests and particulate simulations on powder paving process of additive manufacturing

Tan Cheng ^a, Hui Chen ^b *, Qing Teng ^a, Qingsong Wei ^a *

a State Key Lab of Materials Forming and Die & Mould Technology, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China
b Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117575, Singapore

10.1016/j.partic.2022.07.001

Volume 74, March 2023, Pages 164-172

Received 16 May 2022, Revised 20 June 2022, Accepted 1 July 2022, Available online 14 July 2022, Version of Record 3 August 2022.

E-mail: mpechu@nus.edu.sg; wqs_xn@hust.edu.cn

Highlights

• In-situ experimental tests are performed to investigate powder paving process for the first time.

• Powder bed qualities and pressure on the substrate are directly measured in-situ.

• Reducing inclination angle can significantly increase the powder bed packing quality.

• Scraper with smaller inclination angle can be used to improve paving efficiency.

Abstract

In this work, in-situ experimental tests are first performed to investigate the powder spreading process of additive manufacturing, where different kinds of scrapers and spreading speeds are employed. Detailed kinetic behaviours of individual powder particles are discussed by discrete element method simulations. It is found that the decrease of inclination angle of the scraper improves the powder pressure and compaction in the spreading process, leading to a denser powder flow and thus a denser powder bed. The increase of spreading speed also improves the powder pressure and compaction in the spreading process. However, the powder flow becomes looser due to the volume dilation, and thus the quality of the paved powder bed decreases. In industrial applications, if the higher powder spreading speed is employed to improve the processing efficiency, the scraper with a smaller inclination angle can be used to ensure the powder bed quality.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Additive manufacturing; Powder paving; Packing quality; Powder bedInclination angleIn-situ measurement

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