Effects of process parameters and cooling gas on powder formation during the plasma rotating electrode process
Yujie Cuia Yufan Zhaoa1 Haruko Numatab Kenta Yamanakaa Huakang Biana Kenta Aoyagia AkihikoChibaa
aInstitute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, JapanbDepartment of Materials Processing, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan
Highlights
•The limitation of increasing the rotational speed in decreasing powder size was clarified.
•Cooling and disturbance effects varied with the gas flowing rate.
•Inclined angle of the residual electrode end face affected powder formation.
•Additional cooling gas flowing could be applied to control powder size.
Abstract
The plasma rotating electrode process (PREP) is rapidly becoming an important powder fabrication method in additive manufacturing. However, the low production rate of fine PREP powder limits the development of PREP. Herein, we investigated different factors affecting powder formation during PREP by combining experimental methods and numerical simulations. The limitation of increasing the rotation electrode speed in decreasing powder size is attributed to the increased probability of adjacent droplets recombining and the decreased tendency of granulation. The effects of additional Ar/He gas flowing on the rotational electrode on powder formation is determined through the cooling effect, the disturbance effect, and the inclined effect of the residual electrode end face simultaneously. A smaller-sized powder was obtained in the He atmosphere owing to the larger inclined angle of the residual electrode end face compared to the Ar atmosphere. Our research highlights the route for the fabrication of smaller-sized powders using PREP.
플라즈마 회전 전극 공정(PREP)은 적층 제조 에서 중요한 분말 제조 방법으로 빠르게 자리잡고 있습니다. 그러나 미세한 PREP 분말의 낮은 생산율은 PREP의 개발을 제한합니다. 여기에서 우리는 실험 방법과 수치 시뮬레이션을 결합하여 PREP 동안 분말 형성에 영향을 미치는 다양한 요인을 조사했습니다. 분말 크기 감소에서 회전 전극 속도 증가의 한계는 인접한 액적 재결합 확률 증가 및 과립화 경향 감소에 기인합니다.. 회전 전극에 흐르는 추가 Ar/He 가스가 분말 형성에 미치는 영향은 냉각 효과, 외란 효과 및 잔류 전극 단면의 경사 효과를 통해 동시에 결정됩니다. He 분위기에서는 Ar 분위기에 비해 잔류 전극 단면의 경사각이 크기 때문에 더 작은 크기의 분말이 얻어졌다. 우리의 연구는 PREP를 사용하여 더 작은 크기의 분말을 제조하는 경로를 강조합니다.
Keywords
Plasma rotating electrode process
Ti-6Al-4 V alloy, Rotating speed, Numerical simulation, Gas flowing, Powder size
Introduction
With the development of additive manufacturing, there has been a significant increase in high-quality powder production demand [1,2]. The initial powder characteristics are closely related to the uniform powder spreading [3,4], packing density [5], and layer thickness observed during additive manufacturing [6], thus determining the mechanical properties of the additive manufactured parts [7,8]. Gas atomization (GA) [9–11], centrifugal atomization (CA) [12–15], and the plasma rotating electrode process (PREP) are three important powder fabrication methods.
Currently, GA is the dominant powder fabrication method used in additive manufacturing [16] for the fabrication of a wide range of alloys [11]. GA produces powders by impinging a liquid metal stream to droplets through a high-speed gas flow of nitrogen, argon, or helium. With relatively low energy consumption and a high fraction of fine powders, GA has become the most popular powder manufacturing technology for AM.
The entrapped gas pores are generally formed in the powder after solidification during GA, in which the molten metal is impacted by a high-speed atomization gas jet. In addition, satellites are formed in GA powder when fine particles adhere to partially molten particles.
The gas pores of GA powder result in porosity generation in the additive manufactured parts, which in turn deteriorates its mechanical properties because pores can become crack initiation sites [17]. In CA, a molten metal stream is poured directly onto an atomizer disc spinning at a high rotational speed. A thin film is formed on the surface of the disc, which breaks into small droplets due to the centrifugal force. Metal powder is obtained when these droplets solidify.
Compared with GA powder, CA powder exhibits higher sphericity, lower impurity content, fewer satellites, and narrower particle size distribution [12]. However, very high speed is required to obtain fine powder by CA. In PREP, the molten metal, melted using the plasma arc, is ejected from the rotating rod through centrifugal force. Compared with GA powder, PREP-produced powders also have higher sphericity and fewer pores and satellites [18].
For instance, PREP-fabricated Ti6Al-4 V alloy powder with a powder size below 150 μm exhibits lower porosity than gas-atomized powder [19], which decreases the porosity of additive manufactured parts. Furthermore, the process window during electron beam melting was broadened using PREP powder compared to GA powder in Inconel 718 alloy [20] owing to the higher sphericity of the PREP powder.
In summary, PREP powder exhibits many advantages and is highly recommended for powder-based additive manufacturing and direct energy deposition-type additive manufacturing. However, the low production rate of fine PREP powder limits the widespread application of PREP powder in additive manufacturing.
Although increasing the rotating speed is an effective method to decrease the powder size [21,22], the reduction in powder size becomes smaller with the increased rotating speed [23]. The occurrence of limiting effects has not been fully clarified yet.
Moreover, the powder size can be decreased by increasing the rotating electrode diameter [24]. However, these methods are quite demanding for the PREP equipment. For instance, it is costly to revise the PREP equipment to meet the demand of further increasing the rotating speed or electrode diameter.
Accordingly, more feasible methods should be developed to further decrease the PREP powder size. Another factor that influences powder formation is the melting rate [25]. It has been reported that increasing the melting rate decreases the powder size of Inconel 718 alloy [26].
In contrast, the powder size of SUS316 alloy was decreased by decreasing the plasma current within certain ranges. This was ascribed to the formation of larger-sized droplets from fluid strips with increased thickness and spatial density at higher plasma currents [27]. The powder size of NiTi alloy also decreases at lower melting rates [28]. Consequently, altering the melting rate, varied with the plasma current, is expected to regulate the PREP powder size.
Furthermore, gas flowing has a significant influence on powder formation [27,29–31]. On one hand, the disturbance effect of gas flowing promotes fluid granulation, which in turn contributes to the formation of smaller-sized powder [27]. On the other hand, the cooling effect of gas flowing facilitates the formation of large-sized powder due to increased viscosity and surface tension. However, there is a lack of systematic research on the effect of different gas flowing on powder formation during PREP.
Herein, the authors systematically studied the effects of rotating speed, electrode diameter, plasma current, and gas flowing on the formation of Ti-6Al-4 V alloy powder during PREP as additive manufactured Ti-6Al-4 V alloy exhibits great application potential [32]. Numerical simulations were conducted to explain why increasing the rotating speed is not effective in decreasing powder size when the rotation speed reaches a certain level. In addition, the different factors incited by the Ar/He gas flowing on powder formation were clarified.
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![Fig. 6 Melt pool boundary comparison between the experiment [25] and the simulation](https://www.flow3d.co.kr/wp-content/uploads/Fig.-6-Melt-pool-boundary-comparison-between-the-experiment-25-and-the-simulation.png)
![Fig. 7 Equilibrium points during the formation of vapor column [27]](https://www.flow3d.co.kr/wp-content/uploads/Fig.-7-Equilibrium-points-during-the-formation-of-vapor-column-27.png)
![Fig. 11 Melt pool boundary compared with the experiment [21] for 195 W laser power and 400 mm/s scan speed](https://www.flow3d.co.kr/wp-content/uploads/s-scan-speed.png)
![Fig. 14 Pore number and volume from a different level of power with LED = 0.4 J/mm [29]](https://www.flow3d.co.kr/wp-content/uploads/mm-29.png)
![Fig. 16 Intensity dependence in the relationship between vapor column and evaporation pressure [27]](https://www.flow3d.co.kr/wp-content/uploads/Fig.-16-Intensity-dependence-in-the-relationship-between-vapor-column-and-evaporation-pressure-27.png)
