University of Amsterdam benefits from automated powder sieving with Russell AMProLab Sieve Station
The University of Amsterdam (UvA) Faculty of Sciences Technology Centre has been utilising the Russell AMPro Lab Sieve Station from Russell Finex, based in Feltham, UK, to improve efficiency in the Additive Manufacturing process. The Russell AMPro Lab Sieve Station has dramatically reduced the time its engineers now spend on the time-consuming task of powder sieving, enabling them to focus on valuable research.
Previously, the engineers had to manually sieve each batch of powder, which took a significant amount of time – for example, a batch of 10 kilograms of powder took ninety minutes to sieve. A further challenge for the Technology Centre was to support projects that required Additive Manufacturing with aluminium powder. Due to the powder’s explosive nature, the engineers needed an inert environment to carry out the sieving process safely.
With only a small team of engineers and multiple research projects to support, the Technology Centre was keen to ensure engineers spend their time on the tasks where they added the most value.
The Russell AMPro Lab Sieve Station uses a non-vibratory sieve with a feed control system to decant small bottles of reclaim powder and sieve and remove oversized contamination. The bottle-to-bottle system also has connections for customers’ bottles on feed, fines, and oversize.
During a successful trial of the Russell AMPro Lab Sieve Station, the research support engineers could see how much it improved the efficiency of powder sieving. As a result, UvA purchased the machine for the Technology Centre.
Engineers have gained valuable time they would otherwise have spent manually sieving powder. A whole batch of powder now only needs about ten minutes of the engineer’s time. The Russell AMPro Lab Sieve Station has freed up engineers to concentrate on other projects while sieving occurs.
“With the Russell AMProLab, we can do much more at the same time. It’s a key enabler for our efficiency,” said Daan Giesen, Research Support Engineer.
The Russell AMPro Lab Sieve Station has also allowed engineers to sieve explosive powders without creating health and safety risks. The machine contains an inert gas purging system with a sensor for monitoring oxygen levels before and during the sieve cycle.
Giesen continued, “The AMProLab has given us an inert environment for our powder sieving. We can flush the chamber with nitrogen and measure the oxygen levels to sieve the metal powder safely.”
