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Spheroidization of Alumina Powders for Additive Manufacturing Applications by DC Plasma Technology
Pierpaolo Iovane1, Carmela Borriello1, Giuseppe Pandolfi1
1ENEA, Laboratory Smart Components and Systems for Sustainable Manufacturing, Department for Sustainability, Division Technologies and Materials for Sustainable Manufacturing Industry, 80055 Portici, Italy.
Molecules (Basel, Switzerland)
|February 13, 2025
Summary
Alumina powders were spheroidized using direct current (DC) thermal plasma, achieving over 90% spheroidization. The resulting spherical powders are suitable for additive manufacturing, yielding high-density parts.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Ceramic Engineering
- Additive Manufacturing
Background:
- Alumina is a key oxide ceramic in engineering and biomedical applications.
- Powder morphology critically impacts additive manufacturing (AM) processability and final part density.
- Spherical powder shapes enhance flowability, crucial for successful AM.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the spheroidization of alumina powders using a prototypal DC thermal plasma system.
- To optimize DC plasma parameters for producing spherical alumina powders for AM.
- To evaluate the processability and densification of spheroidized alumina powders.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a custom-designed DC thermal plasma system for alumina powder spheroidization.
- Investigated the effects of varying DC plasma power and secondary gas composition.
- Analyzed powder characteristics including morphology, particle size distribution, crystallinity, and circularity.
- Conducted forming, debinding, and sintering tests on treated powders.
Main Results:
- Achieved high degrees of spheroidization (>90%) and circularity (≥0.8) at optimal DC plasma power.
- Demonstrated that optimized plasma treatment yields spherical alumina powders suitable for AM.
- Sintering tests resulted in high part densities, reaching up to 97%.
Conclusions:
- The DC thermal plasma process is effective for spheroidizing alumina powders for AM.
- Optimized process parameters enable the production of high-quality, spherical alumina powders.
- The spheroidized powders exhibit excellent processability and densification, meeting AM requirements.
