Process for additive manufacturing of parts by melting or sintering particles of powder(s) using a high-energy beam with powders adapted to the targeted process/material pair

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10710156-B2
Application number	US-201414902699-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 30, 2014
Priority date	Jul 4, 2013
Publication date	Jul 14, 2020
Grant date	Jul 14, 2020

Abstract

A method of fabricating parts out of metallic, intermetallic, ceramic, ceramic matrix composite, or metal matrix composite material with discontinuous reinforcement, includes melting or sintering powder particles by means of a high-energy beam. The powder used is a single powder of particles that present sphericity lying in the range 0.8 to 1.0 and of form factor lying in the range 1 to √2, each powder particle presenting substantially identical mean composition, and the grain size distribution of the particles of the powder is narrowed around the mean diameter value d50% in such a manner that: (d90%−d50%)/d50%≤0.66; and (d50%−d10%)/d50%≤0.33; with a “span”: (d90%−d10%)/d50%≤1.00.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of fabricating a part out of a material with discontinuous reinforcement, the method comprising:
melting or sintering powder particles of the material with discontinuous reinforcement via a high-energy beam,
wherein
the material is a metallic, intermetallic, ceramic, ceramic matrix composite, or a metal matrix composite material,
the powder particles have substantially identical mean composition, a sphericity of from 0.8 to 1.0, a form factor of from 1 to √2, and a grain size distribution narrowed around a mean diameter value d 50% in such a manner that:
( d 90% −d 50% )/ d 50% ≤0.66,

( d 50% −d 10% )/ d 50% ≤0.33, and

( d 90% −d 10% )/ d 50% ≤1.00,

the composition of the powder particles comprises an additional chemical element in a quantity of more than 0 and less than 0.5 wt % and suitable for modifying the material's microstructure,
and
the additional chemical element facilitates wetting of the reinforcement by a liquid, which is formed by melting a portion of the powder particles via the high-energy beam.

2. The method according to claim 1 ,
wherein a span value defined as:
( d 90% −d 10% )/ d 50%

is less than or equal to 0.50, with:
( d 90% −d 50% )/ d 50% ≤0.33, and

( d 50% −d 10% )/ d 50% ≤0.17.

3. The method according to claim 1 ,
wherein the powder particles are obtained by atomizing or centrifuging a parent alloy.

4. The method according to claim 1 ,
wherein the powder particles are obtained by coating or by encrustation.

5. The method according to claim 1 ,
wherein the powder particles are obtained by milling/mixing.

6. The method according to claim 1 ,
wherein the powder particles are obtained by granulating a suspension.

7. The method according to claim 1 ,
wherein the composition of the powder particles is enriched in at least one chemical element, which is a chemical element of the material.

8. The method according to claim 7 ,
wherein the at least one chemical element, or an oxide of the at least one chemical element, is volatile at a temperature produced by the high-energy beam.

9. The method according to claim 8 ,
wherein the material is a Ti6Al4V metal alloy and the volatile chemical element is aluminum.

10. The method according to claim 9 ,
wherein an enriched content of aluminum from the powder particles ranges from 0.15 wt % to 3 wt % relative to the Ti6Al4V alloy.

11. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the material is a metal alloy based on aluminum or on lithium, and the volatile chemical element is lithium.

12. The method according to claim 1 ,
wherein the high-energy beam is a laser beam.

13. The method according to claim 12 ,
wherein the melting or sintering comprises applying a direct metal deposition technique, a selective laser melting technique, or a selective laser sintering technique to a powder bed.

14. A method of fabricating a part out of a material with discontinuous reinforcement, the method comprising:
melting or sintering powder particles via a high-energy beam,
wherein
the material is a metallic, intermetallic, ceramic, ceramic matrix composite, or a metal matrix composite material,
the powder particles have substantially identical mean composition, a sphericity of from 0.8 to 1.0, a form factor of from 1 to √2, and a grain size distribution narrowed around a mean diameter value d 50% in such a manner that:
( d 90% −d 50% )/ d 50% ≤0.66,

( d 50% −d 10% )/ d 50% ≤0.33, and

( d 90% −d 10% )/ d 50% ≤1.00,

the composition of the powder particles comprises an additional chemical element in a quantity of more than 0 and less than 0.5 w % and suitable for modifying the material's microstructure, and
when the material is a ceramic material, the additional chemical element is suitable for improving the ceramic material's absorptivity of a radiation emitted by the high-energy beam.

Assignees

• Safran Aircraft Engines
• European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co Eads France
• Airbus Helicopters

Inventors

• Colin Christophe
• Kirschner Laetitia

Classifications

• B22F1/148

  Agglomerating · CPC title

• B22F1/065

  Spherical particles · CPC title

• B22F1/052

  characterised by a mixture of particles of different sizes or by the particle size distribution · CPC title

• B22F12/49

  Scanners · CPC title

• B22F12/44

  characterised by the configuration of the radiation means · CPC title