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Iron Oxide Doped Spray Dried Aluminum Oxide Granules for Selective Laser Sintering and Melting of Ceramic Parts
Author(s) -
Pfeiffer Stefan,
Florio Kevin,
Makowska Malgorzata,
Ferreira Sanchez Dario,
Van Swygenhoven Helena,
Aneziris Christos G.,
Wegener Konrad,
Graule Thomas
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
advanced engineering materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.938
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1527-2648
pISSN - 1438-1656
DOI - 10.1002/adem.201801351
Subject(s) - materials science , dispersant , selective laser sintering , sintering , particle size , spray drying , ceramic , aluminium , selective laser melting , absorption (acoustics) , composite material , chemical engineering , metallurgy , microstructure , optics , dispersion (optics) , physics , engineering
Powder bed density, flowability, and laser light absorption of the powder strongly influence the quality and performance of aluminum oxide parts processed by selective laser sintering and melting. By means of spray drying, highly dense granules with a good flowability are manufactured. An ultrasonic atomizer and a co‐current droplet air mixing are used to spray aqueous slurries consisting of either bimodal or trimodal distributions of aluminum oxide. Nano‐iron oxide improves the interaction with the green pulsed laser. The improved absorption of the green laser light is verified by means of an Ulbricht sphere. The appropriate amount of dispersant for consecutive water‐based spray granulation is determined by Zeta Potential measurements. Dibasic ammonium citrate is found to be the most suitable dispersant. A final uniform distribution of the iron oxide within the spray dried granules is confirmed by X‐ray μ‐beam fluorescence tomography. The powder quality is characterized by apparent density, tapped density, Hausner ratio, moisture content, and particle size distribution. Powders with a tapped density of almost 50% of the theoretical density and an absorbance of 69% (green laser light) lead to maximum densities of the laser processed parts of around 96%.