Powder bed metal additive manufacturing (AM) processes typically use up to 20kg of powder for each 1kg of manufactured part, so AM users must be able to effectively handle and recycle vast amounts of powder during the process. In the current generation of AM machines, the powder handling equipment provides a potential risk to powder traceability and powder quality.
PowderCleanse, which is in its final stages, set out to develop and demonstrate an effective solution for powder management which utilises digital connectivity to monitor and control every aspect of the process. Key innovations are being developed for metal powder sieving, online process monitoring, foreign body contamination detection and fully enclosed powder handling environments.