3D printing with plasma treated alumina and steel powders

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From steel and alumina powders, treated through a plasma process, the raw material for 3D printing and spraying. The experiment, which involves a prototype developed and currently used by Enea researchers at the Portici Research Centre, has the objective of creating complex components for the aerospace, biomedical and robotics sectors. The technology used, the researchers point out, exploits the energy of the plasma to make the powders irregular in shape and highly “spherical”, i.e. with good flowability and compaction capacity, the main requirement for applications in the field of 3D printing, but also plasma spray. For the moment the powders have been characterized but not used for the production of artifacts.

Sergio Galvagno, a researcher at the Enea Laboratory of Nanomaterials and devices, explains how it works: «The use of a source with a high energy density such as plasma allows fast processes and high production flexibility. This makes it possible to create products on demand with rapid production changes, but also to carry out processing at times when energy costs are lower, reduce warehouse stocks and minimize the production of waste». The experimentation carried out by the researchers was carried out on irregularly shaped Alumina and Steel powders «with the aim of exploring and identifying the best treatment parameters for the production process». The powders produced can be used in printing techniques in a direct way Selective Laser Sintering, Selective Laser Melting, direct energy deposition or through the formulation of semi-finished products such as slurry, paste (liquid deposition modeling, resins and loaded filaments. «Once upon a time powders passed through the plasma lamp, in a process with high energy absorption but very rapid, they become raw material for 3D or spray printing – he argues -.The hypothesized use is that of titanium and steel alloys”. more used also in the light of the fact that the growing diffusion of 3D printing techniques has led to great interest in the development of printing materials. «Powders, and in particular metallic ones – he argues -, constitute a rapidly growing market whose production follows different processes according to the raw materials used and the properties that must be conferred on them”. And, although it has not been Having made an estimate on the economic impact, growth and development «will depend on the introduction of Additive Manufacturing processes in the various production sectors». On the horizon then the attempt to produce powders for small productions on demand. «One thing we are working on is the reuse of processing waste but it is still in a primary stage of development».