(680f) Polymer and Metalic Powders Flowability & Electrical Charges Characterisation for Additive Manufacturing

Granular materials and fine powders are widely used in industrial applications. To control and to optimize processing methods, these materials have to be precisely characterized. The characterization methods are related either to the properties of the grains (granulometry, morphology, chemical composition ...) and to the behaviour of the bulk powder (flowability, density, blend stability, electrostatic properties ...). However, concerning the physical behaviour of bulk powder, most of the techniques used in R&D or in quality control laboratories are based on old measurement techniques. During the last decade, we have updated these techniques to meet the present requirements of R&D laboratories and production departments. For this purpose, the measurement processes have been automatized and rigorous initialization methods have been developed to obtain reproducible and interpretable results.

In this paper, two new powders characterisation techniques will be presented: a high-resolution tapped density analyser, the GranuPack and a patented triboelectric effect analyser called the GranuCharge^TM. To show the possibilities of these instruments, two steel powders (from Carpenter and LPW) and three polyamides 12 powders were selected (from Duraform and Arkema). The Duraform polyamide 12 powder was also used to study the impact of a Selective Laser Melting Process on the modification of the surface properties of this sample.