Metal additive manufacturing (AM) is often billed as the future of manufacturing, providing unlimited possibilities in terms of part design and complexity, minimal material wastage and the ability to manufacture parts anywhere in the world through the internet. An aspect of AM that receives relatively limited attention, yet underpins the foundation that AM relies upon, is powder management. Powder bed AM processes typically use up to 20 kg of powder for each 1 kg of manufactured part. This means that 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 provide a potential risk to both powder traceability and powder quality. This is largely driven by exposure of the powder to the environment and the use of non-optimal equipment. The PowderCleanse project will develop and demonstrate an effective solution for powder management which utilises digital connectivity to both monitor and control every aspect of the process. Key innovations will be developed for; metal powder sieving, online process monitoring, foreign body contamination detection and fully enclosed powder handling environments.
Summary
- Date:
- January 29 2019 - January 29 2019
- Time:
-
10:30 - 11:30
(GMT-05:00) Eastern [US & Canada] - Event type:
- Webinar - Live
- Language:
- English
- Industry:
- Metals
Speakers
The PowderCleanse consortium is made up of the following partners:
Malvern Panalytical was formed by the merger of the businesses Malvern Instruments and PANalytical, including the companies ASD and Claisse, on 1st January 2017, and employs over 2,000 people worldwide. The combined entity is a strong player and innovator in the materials characterization market and provides a number of complementary solutions to for the additive manufacturing and powder metallurgy sectors.
Farelygreene have been supplying sieving equipment since 1976 and serve a wide range of industry sectors. Farelygreene have built a reputation on providing innovative technologies to meet the exacting requirements demanded by end-users. FG's vast experience in sieving technology has led to SievGen, a new market offering to the AM sector.
AegleTeq, a highly innovative SME, are world class suppliers of x-ray equipment and bespoke turnkey solutions for inspection of components including additive manufacturing.
LPW started out as specialist suppliers of powders for AM but have since branched out to provide customers with a solution for Total Powder Management. LPW have developed a software package, PowderSolve, which allows end-users to maintain full traceability of their AM powders. They have also introduced a new state-of-the-art powder hopper, PowderTrace, which continuously monitors and records information about the powder environment during storage.
Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) was established in 2011 to undertake research into new manufacturing techniques and is the home of the National Centre for Additive Manufacturing. MTC are expert users of AM equipment and have advanced working knowledge of the powder recycling process.
More information
Who should attend?
Metal AM users looking to improve handling, recycling and quality of their powders during processing.
Why attend?
To find out what PowderCleanse is and how it can add value to your AM process.