Koushik, Tejas, Shen, Haopeng, Hao Kan, Wen, Gao, Mu, Yi, Junlan, Ma, Chao, Chao Voon Lim, Samuel, Ngai Sum Chiu, Louis, and Huang, Aijun (2023) Effective Ti-6Al-4V Powder Recycling in LPBF Additive Manufacturing Considering Powder History. Sustainability, 15 (21). 15582.

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Abstract

Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) is an outstanding additive manufacturing (AM) technology that can enable both complicated geometries and desired mechanical properties in high-value components. However, the process reliability and cost have been the obstacles to the extensive industrial adoptions of LPBF. This work aims to develop a powder recycling procedure to reduce production cost and minimize process uncertainties due to powder degradation. We used a recycle index (R) to reuse Ti-6Al-4V powder through 10 production cycles. Using this recycle index is more reasonable than simply replying on recycle numbers as it incorporates the powder usage history. A recycling procedure with simple virgin powder top-up can effectively mitigate powder degradation and maintain stable powder properties, chemical compositions, and tensile properties. The experimental finding points to a sustainable recycling strategy of Ti alloy powders with minimal material waste and without noticeable detriment to observed mechanical performance through LPBF production cycles.

Item ID:	86205
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	2071-1050
Keywords:	additive manufacturing; powder bed; powder recycling; Ti alloys
Copyright Information:	© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).
Date Deposited:	24 Jul 2025 07:04
FoR Codes:	40 ENGINEERING > 4014 Manufacturing engineering > 401401 Additive manufacturing @ 100%
SEO Codes:	28 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 2801 Expanding knowledge > 280110 Expanding knowledge in engineering @ 100%
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