As part of its ambitions to improve product development, technical support and advancement, Wall Colmonoy has recently invested £500,000 in its Research & Development Laboratory at its Pontardawe-based European headquarters. The R&D Lab has developed into a now fully comprehensive suite of analytical equipment for characterizing powders; including laser diffraction, chemical analysis, dry powder and fluid rheometry, as well as optical and electron microscopy. With a recent move into materials for additive manufacturing, where powder properties such as particle shape and size are often more critical, there was a need to expand analytical capabilities.
“We know that particle shape directly influences additive manufacturing performance and our customers expect a high-quality product with the correct size distribution and a spherical morphology,” says Tom Roblin, process engineering manager. “We have manual microscopy and electron microscopy, which allow us to qualitatively check the products we manufacture but we also needed a technique that could provide quantitative data on a statistically representative sample.”
Therefore, the Malvern Panalytical Morphologi 4 was purchased to most simply, measure particle shape and size. The Morphologi 4 provides an automated optical imaging platform capable of analyzing a large number of particles and image analysis capabilities that automatically quantifies the shape and size distribution of those particles.
The lab also features full metallographic capabilities to view powder particle morphology, microstructures of braze joints, hard surfacing overlays, and microhardness indentations; SEM/EDS analysis capabilities; ICP spectrometer analysis, and thermal analyzer measurements.
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Image – Morphologi 4 is frequently used for optimizing atomization conditions and evaluating the impact of process changes on powder properties. It is a valuable tool that provides clear images and consistent results.
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