New powder for additive manufacturing

The development of additive manufacturing processes is one of the greatest advances in the manufacturing of short series of parts/devices with multifaceted geometries. Industrialization of the selective laser melting (SLM) still requires research, particularly in what concerns the optimization of powder characteristics. Metal powder flowability can assume an enormous influence on the densification and consequently in the mechanical properties of the bulk. Powder's surface modification by nanocrystalline thin film contributes to a significant improvement of flowability. Thus, a comparative study of the influence on additive manufacturing process of stainless steel powder before and after surface treatment is the target of the present work. After SLM using similar parameters, bulk material of stainless steel (AISI 316L) resulting from nanocrystalline coating and uncoated commercial powder are compared. In contrast with other powder technologies (PIM), coated powder gives rise to a bulk material with lower density/mechanical properties.