Nickel-base superalloys are an important material group for components used in the gas turbine, aerospace and chemical processing industries. Many of the well-established superalloys available today do not, however, adapt well to processing by Additive Manufacturing. In this article, Dr Tatiana Hentrich and Dr Christina Schmidt, VDM Metals International GmbH, present an overview of nickel-base alloys with a focus on strengthening effects, mechanical properties and weldability, comparing production challenges by conventional production routes and Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB) Additive Manufacturing. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 6 No. 3, Autumn/Fall 2020]
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Whilst Additive Manufacturing is undoubtedly having a huge impact on the design and manufacture of rocket propulsion systems, most notably combustion chambers and nozzles, the Achilles’ heel of most AM processes is as-built surface finish. Whilst in many AM applications surface finish may be largely irrelevant to a component’s function or performance, when it comes to high-cycle fatigue properties, achieving the required level of smoothness is critical to performance. In this article, Justin Michaud, REM Surface Engineering, reports on advancements achieved in this area through a public-private partnership with NASA. [First published in Metal AM Vol. 6 No. 3, Autumn/Fall 2020]
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A technical session at the Euro PM2019 Congress, organised by the European Powder Metallurgy Association (EPMA) and held in Maastricht, the Netherlands, October 13-16, 2019, focused on the impact of storage conditions, particularly exposure to humidity, on the characteristics and quality of powders used in Powder Bed Fusion Additive Manufacturing. Dr David Whittaker reviews selected papers presented during this session.
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At the 2019 Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG) Conference in Chicago, Illinois, a panel was held to discuss requirements for Additive Manufacturing systems. Despite the late hour of the panel and depth in the week at which it was held, a formidable crowd organised themselves to hear Ryan Dehoff of ORNL, Filip Francqui of Granutools and John Barnes of The Barnes Group Advisors discuss the topic of powder in AM. In this article, the panellists explore in more detail the differences in powder requirements between AM systems.
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A technical session at the Euro PM2018 congress, organised by the European Powder Metallurgy Association (EPMA) and held in Bilbao, Spain, October 14–18, 2018, specifically addressed the processing and achievable properties of aluminium alloy parts built by Additive Manufacturing. In the following report, Dr David Whittaker reviews the four papers presented in this session.
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The third Metal Additive Manufacturing Conference (MAMC2018), organised by the Austrian Society for Metallurgy and Materials (ASMET) and voestalpine, took place in Vienna, Austria, from November 21–23, 2018. The event, which attracted an international audience, covered a broad range of metal AM technologies and considered the technical challenges that need to be overcome to make the industry more economically competitive with conventional manufacturing. Prof Dr Bruno Buchmayr, Dr Bruno Hribernik, Dipl-Ing Gerhard Panzl and Prof Dr Jürgen Stampfl review the event for Metal AM magazine.
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Technical papers presented at the Euro PM2018 conference, organised by the European Powder Metallurgy Association (EPMA) and held in Bilbao, Spain, October 14-18, 2018, addressed issues related to the influences of chemical contamination and powder characteristics on processability in metal Additive Manufacturing. In the following report, Dr David Whittaker reviews four presented papers that touched on each of these issues.
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Within the technical sessions dedicated to Additive Manufacturing research at the World PM2016 Congress a number of papers focused on materials new to Powder Bed Fusion and assessed the ability to process these materials. Dr David Whittaker reviews three papers that report on investigations into Inconel 625 superalloy produced by EBM, Metal Matrix Composites with ceramic reinforcement and the direct metal printing of zinc.
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The Additive Manufacturing of light alloys was the focus of three separate technical sessions at the World PM2016 Congress, held in Hamburg, Germany, from 9-13 October, 2016. The event, which was organised by the European Powder Metallurgy Association (EPMA), covered all aspects of metal powder processing technologies. This report reviews three of the key papers from these sessions, two relating to the AM of aluminium alloys and the third to the AM of a magnesium alloy.
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In the second of our reports from the Metal Powder Industries Federation’s Additive Manufacturing with Powder Metallurgy (AMPM) conference, Dr David Whittaker reports on three presentations that highlighted developments in the processing of novel AM materials. These include tungsten for nuclear fusion applications and copper alloys for applications which require high electrical conductivity.
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In part two of our report on technical advances in metal AM at the Euro PM2015 Congress, Reims, France, October 4-7 2015, Dr David Whittaker reports on six further papers presented at the conference’s very well attended metal AM sessions. These papers cover the heat treatment of IN939 superalloy parts, the production of Ni718 superalloy powder, advances in inkjet-based metal AM and the production of gears by Laser Metal Deposition (LMD).
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The AMPM conference series, sponsored by the Metal Powder Industries Federation (MPIF), was initiated in 2014 and ran in parallel with the PM2014 World Congress in Orlando, Florida. The second conference in the series was held in San Diego, California, from May 17-20, 2015. In this exclusive report for Metal AM magazine Dr David Whittaker reviews a number of key papers from the conference, ranging from a presentation on the activities of America Makes to developments in the production and characterisation of metal powders for AM.
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