Recycling Of 316 L Powder And Scrap From Additive Manufacturing Processing

Paper in proceeding, 2024

This study focuses on advancing the sustainability of powder-based metal additive manufacturing (AM), with focus on powder bed fusion - laser beam (PBF-LB). As a result of numerous reuse cycles during PBF-LB, powder degradation occurs due to the spatter accumulation and hence increase in bulk oxygen content. Hence, heavily reused 316L powder and scrap material from PBF-LB processing (support structures, failed components, etc.) were re-melted into ingots. High-pressure gas atomization trials for 316L material were performed at Swerim AB. The powder produced was classified to PBF-LB size fraction (15-45 µm) and had a total oxygen content of 234 ppm, characterized by excellent processability by PBF-LB. Subsequent investigation of powder properties before and after re-atomization was performed to evaluate the possibility of utilizing scrap as feedstock material in AM. Results indicate high potential for powder recycling in the case of 316L.