Open AccessINFLUENCE OF POWDER CHARACTERISTICS ON THE SPREADABILITY OF PRE-ALLOYED TUNGSTEN- CARBIDE COBALT
Author(s) -
Preyin Govender,
Deborah C. Blaine,
Natasha Sacks
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
south african journal of industrial engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.225
H-Index - 16
eISSN - 2224-7890
pISSN - 1012-277X
DOI - 10.7166/32-3-2664
Subject(s) - spreadability , tungsten carbide , materials science , angle of repose , particle size , cobalt , particle density , carbide , particle (ecology) , tungsten , particle size distribution , composite material , metallurgy , chemical engineering , chemistry , food science , plasma , physics , oceanography , quantum mechanics , engineering , geology
With rising interest in additive manufacturing (AM) techniques, there is an increased focus on research that evaluates critical parameters that guide the selection of powders that are suitable for AM. One such parameter is a powder’s spreadability, described by metrics such as powder bed density and percentage coverage. This study focused on three spray-dried WC-Co powders (two 12 wt% and one 17 wt% Co) and evaluated the influence of typical powder characteristics, such as particle size and shape, apparent density, and flow rate, on their spreadability. It was found that particle size distribution influenced the powder spreadability. Larger particles hindered the even spreading of powder over the base plate, resulting in low powder bed density and percentage coverage. This also correlated with the powders’ apparent densities. The flow rate and angle of repose gave an indication of how cohesive the powders are. The more cohesive a powder, the poorer the spreadability, resulting in a lower powder bed density and percentage coverage.