IMTS 2018 Conference: Metal additive manufacturing myths – the truth about powder reuse and its effect on mechanical properties

Plan to attend The IMTS 2018 Conferences to expand your industry knowledge as you learn from the pros.

There is a preconceived notion within the manufacturing industry that powder reuse and recycling for direct metal laser melting (DMLM) negatively impacts material properties and leads to inferior parts. Engineers, skeptical about material recycling, often specify a maximum powder age and require additive manufacturing (AM) providers to discard all old powder. In reality, reusing and recycling powder with the proper controls not only has no effect on mechanical properties, it enables DMLM to be a more efficient and economical AM process.

Registration opens soon, so check out the IMTS 2018 website for more information.

Stratasys Direct Manufacturing supported this theory through two separate 8-month long studies conducted in parallel to serial production. The first study focused on feedstock properties and the resulting room and elevated temperature tensile results of IN625. The second study focused on the chemical composition and room temperature tensile properties of Cobalt Chrome. The second also focused on the powder properties and room temperature tensile properties of IN625. The mission to control, track and develop the additive metals production process has led to increased confidence in DMLM. In this session, Stratasys Direct Manufacturing will present the results from their studies and explain what proper powder reuse and recycling control could mean for AM.

Meet your presenter
Andrew Carter is a process and manufacturing engineer at Stratasys Direct Manufacturing with more than 5 years of experience in additive manufacturing. He has extensively studied direct metal laser melting (DMLM) technology and has received three Small Business Innovation Research grants aimed at developing novel applications and materials specifically for DMLM, including studying powder degradation. Carter also received a 30 Under 30 award from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers in 2017.