Metal Additive Manufacturing Conference - MAMC 2021

In laser powder bed fusion processes, spreading as dense and fully covered powder layers as possible is of crucial importance for good processability of powders. Poorly covered layers or layers with unappropriated features in it such as for instance elongated, powderless craters in the direction of spreading might result in insufficient quality of the printed parts. The reason for this could be either poor powder quality or a poorly adjusted build job. To investigate the surface coverage of a single spread layer, a new method was developed using the Spreading Tester. With this, two powder grades differing mostly in their shape were used to investigate the impact of powder shape on the surface coverage.