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A Method for Predicting Powder Flowability for Selective Laser Sintering

  • Solid Freeform Fabrication 2021
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Abstract

This work investigates a method for pre-screening material systems for selective laser sintering using a combination of revolution powder analysis (RPA) and machine learning. To develop this method, nylon was mixed with alumina or carbon fibers in different wt.% to form material systems with varying flowability. The materials were measured in a custom RPA device and the results compared with as-spread layer density and surface roughness. Machine learning was used to attempt classification of all powders for each method. Ultimately, it was found that the RPA method is able to reliably classify powders based on their flowability, but as-spread layer density and surface roughness were not able to be classified.

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Notes

  1. 10 µm step size, ×200 magnification, 5 × 5 stitching (57 mm2 total area)

  2. Dry-mixed in a high-shear blender (Chulux QF-TB159008) for 10 min; alumina: (Almatis A16 SG, d50 = 0.5 µm), nylon: PA12 (ALM PA650 d50 = 55 µm); mixture sieved to < 250 µm

  3. Dry-mixed in high-shear blender (Chulux QF-TB159008) for 10 min. Nylon: PA12 (ALM PA650 d50=55 µm), carbon fibers: (Zoltek PX-30 avg. length=100 µm, avg. width=7 µm).

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by ExxonMobil through its membership in The University of Texas at Austin Energy Institute and by Phase II funding from NAVAIR STTR topic N18A-T008 (Additive Manufacturing for Naval Aircraft Battery Applications), Contract Number N68335-19-C-0578.

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Author notes

  1. Douglas Sassaman and Timothy Phillips have contributed equally to this project.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Additive Manufacturing and Design Innovation and Walker, Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, USA

    Douglas Sassaman, Timothy Phillips & Joseph Beaman

  2. Texas Research Institute Austin, Austin, TX, 78746, USA

    Craig Milroy

  3. ExxonMobil Research and Development Company, Annandale, NJ, 08801, USA

    Matthew Ide

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  1. Douglas Sassaman
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  2. Timothy Phillips
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  3. Craig Milroy
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Correspondence to Douglas Sassaman.

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Sassaman, D., Phillips, T., Milroy, C. et al. A Method for Predicting Powder Flowability for Selective Laser Sintering. JOM 74, 1102–1110 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-021-05050-w

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