Moisture content analysis of metal powders, using oven desorption followed by Karl Fischer titration

Paper i proceeding, 2020

In this paper, we use Oven Desorption followed by Karl Fischer Titration (KF), to measure moisture content in a newly opened PBF-LB Hasteloy X powder (we found 28.8 ppm), an PBF-EB powder (13.7 ppm) and a HIP powder (6.7 ppm). This method heats a powder sample inside a hermetically closed vial, in an oven. At the same time an inert gas flow enters, flushes out the evaporated water and exits the vial, via a double hollow needle. The gas-water mixture that exits is directed to the Karl Fischer Titration, where the evaporated moisture is quantified. Included is also a comparison with thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and a climate chamber moisturization experiment of a PBF-LB HX powder followed by KF analysis. After the moisturization and KF analysis, the same powder was characterized in terms of oxygen content.