Functionalized metal powders by small particles made by non-thermal plasma glow discharge for additive manufacturing applications

• Main Authors: MERTZ Grégory, DELMÉE Maxime
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 16.10.2020
• Subjects: ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY; ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING, i.e. MANUFACTURING OFTHREE-DIMENSIONAL [3-D] OBJECTS BY ADDITIVE DEPOSITION, ADDITIVEAGGLOMERATION OR ADDITIVE LAYERING, e.g. BY 3-D PRINTING,STEREOLITHOGRAPHY OR SELECTIVE LASER SINTERING; CASTING; CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROCESSES, e.g. CATALYSIS OR COLLOIDCHEMISTRY; CHEMICAL SURFACE TREATMENT; CHEMISTRY; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATIONOR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY IONIMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; DIFFUSION TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL; INHIBITING CORROSION OF METALLIC MATERIAL OR INCRUSTATION INGENERAL; MAKING METALLIC POWDER; MANUFACTURE OF ARTICLES FROM METALLIC POWDER; METALLURGY; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL; POWDER METALLURGY; SURFACE TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL BY DIFFUSION INTO THESURFACE, BY CHEMICAL CONVERSION OR SUBSTITUTION; THEIR RELEVANT APPARATUS; TRANSPORTING; WORKING METALLIC POWDER

The present invention discloses a non-thermal plasma treatment of metal powders in order to improve their processability by additive manufacturing (AM). The invention consists in bonding primary particles constituted of metals or metal alloys to a plurality of secondary particles constituted of metals, metal alloys, ceramics or polymers by the mean of a non-thermal plasma treatment. The primary particles have a larger mean diameter than the secondary. Both particles are injected through a non-thermal plasma glow discharge and/or in its afterglow region (region downstream the plasma discharge) where their surfaces are cleaned by removing contaminants and/or oxide layer and activated to react between each other. The functionalized metal powders are then collected and afterwards processed by AM leading to high quality parts. The functionalized metal powders produced by this plasma treatment improve the processability of metal by AM. Indeed, decreasing the reflectivity, removing contaminant and oxide layer, enhancing the isotropic solidification of melted materials and decreasing the sintering temperature enhance the efficiency of powder based AM processes