Usability of Ti6Al4V Powder via Hydride-Dehydride Process for Selective Laser Melting Process

Spherical powders via gas atomization etc. are recommended for use in SLM, however, the spherical powders are expensive and able to make in limited types of metal materials. Using non-spherical powder in SLM are capable of applying SLM to cheap part production and diversify powder materials for SLM. In this paper, to study the feasibility of using Ti6Al4V milled powder via hydride-dehydride method for SLM, characteristics of powders, powder bed performances, and SLM fabricated samples made from gas atomization powder and milled powder were analyzed and compared. The milled powder which added a fumed silica as a lubricant were also analyzed. In the results, flow and packing characteristics of the milled powder are lower than the gas atomized one. The characteristics of the milled powder are improved by adding fumed silica as lubricant, and had comparable characteristics to the gas atomized one. Microstructure of the SLM fabricated samples has a comparable size and morphology regardless of powders. Hardness of the SLM fabricated sample made from milled powder are larger than that of it made from gas atomized powder, owing to solid solution hardening by oxygen.