Carbon coating to improve Titanium and Aluminum powder properties for LPBF application

Aluminum and titanium components fabricated via laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) process have gained industry interest, especially for automotive and aerospace applications, due to their enhanced lightweight and mechanical properties. For a higher part quality and surface resolution, the use of fine powders is desired for the LPBF process. However, the poor flowability of fine powders produces a major processibility challenge. To improve the powder properties, the dry coating technique is suggested to carburize the aluminum and titanium alloys. Hence, the objective of this project is to optimize the coating parameters and powder processibility for the LPBF process. The proposed methodology starts by testing the coated powders for powder flowability, packability, coating thickness, and compositions to down select the optimum coating conditions. Then, the selected and virgin powders will be used to print the test specimen for the physical and mechanical tests to evaluate the powder processibility for the LPBF process.

Faculty Supervisor:

Etienne Martin

Student:

Partner:

AP&C

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Manufacturing

University:

Polytechnique Montréal

Program: