Linde LLC, Bridgewater, N.J., announces three new technologies to improve the quality of metal powders: Incoming Quality, 3D Process Quality, and Finish Quality.
Incoming Quality: High-end additive manufacturing depends not only on the incoming quality of metal powders, but also on storage conditions of sensitive powder metals such as aluminum or titanium alloys before use. The ADDvance powder cabinet purges the storage atmosphere with inert gas, while tightly controlling temperature and humidity.
3D Process Quality: Unwanted gases can enter an AM chamber in several ways — through insufficient purging, loose supply connections, or through the powder metal itself. The Linde ADDvance O2 precision atmosphere monitoring system precisely controls O2 and humidity levels by continuously analyzing the powder chamber atmosphere.
Finish Quality: Surface oxides, unfused powders, or other residues need to be removed from AM parts prior to further processing or surface finishing. Linde ADDvance Cryoclean cleaning technology uses CO2 snow plus blasting abrasives to remove difficult residues cost-effectively and without water.
In addition, Linde opened an additive manufacturing global R&D Center near Munich in 2016, where the laboratory is focusing on the effect of atmospheric gases and gas mixtures on metal powders to optimize layering processes during 3D printing. The image shows an additively manufactured model of a starship.
