Method for manufacturing machine components by additive manufacturing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11033959-B2
Application number	US-201515327645-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 20, 2015
Priority date	Jul 21, 2014
Publication date	Jun 15, 2021
Grant date	Jun 15, 2021

Abstract

A method for manufacturing a machine component made of metal-based material is described. The method comprises the steps of: providing a powder blend comprising at least one metal-containing powder material and at least one strengthening dispersor in powder form, wherein the strengthening dispersor in powder form has an average grain size less than an average grain size of the metal-containing powder material; and forming the machine component by an additive manufacturing process using the powder blend.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for manufacturing a component made of a metal-based material, the method comprising:
forming a metal-containing powder material by atomizing molten portions of an ingot of a master superalloy via plasma atomization, the ingot formed by vacuum induction melting;
forming the component by an additive manufacturing process from a powder blend comprising the metal-containing powder material and at least one strengthening dispersor, wherein the strengthening dispersor has an average grain size equal to or less than about 5 micrometers and less than an average grain size of the metal-containing powder material,
wherein the powder blend comprises between 0.1% to 2% by weight of the at least one strengthening dispersor, the at least one strengthening dispersor being in powder form and including an oxide material and a ceramic non-oxide material.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the additive manufacturing process is selected from the group consisting of: electron beam melting (EBM), selective laser melting (SLM), selective laser sintering (SLS), laser metal forming (LMF), direct metal laser sintering (DMLS), and direct metal laser melting (DMLM).

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one strengthening dispersor in powder form has an average grain size equal to or less than about 0.1 micrometers.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the strengthening dispersor in powder form has an average grain size equal to or greater than about 5 nm.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one strengthening dispersor in powder form has a nanometric average grain size.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the metal-containing powder material has an average grain size between about 10 micrometers and about 100 micrometers.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the strengthening dispersor in powder form is an atomized powder.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the oxide material is selected from the group consisting of: Y 2 O 3 , Al 2 O 3 , Th 2 O 4 , Zr 2 O 3 , La 2 O 3 , Yb 2 O 3 , Dy 2 O 3 , and wherein the ceramic non-oxide material is selected from the group consisting of: Si 3 N 4 , AN, SiC, TaC, WC, and combinations thereof.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the metal-containing powder material is selected from the group consisting of: Ni-based superalloys, Co-based superalloys, Fe-based superalloys, Mo-based superalloys, W-based superalloys, Ta-based superalloys; Nb-based superalloys, and combinations thereof.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises forming the powder blend by at least:
producing the metal-containing powder material with a first average grain size;
producing the at least one strengthening dispersor in powder form with a second average grain size, wherein the second average grain size is lower than the first average grain size; and
mixing together the metal-containing powder material and the strengthening dispersor in powder form to obtain the powder blend.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising at least one heat-treatment step performed on the formed component.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the at least one heat-treatment step is performed under vacuum.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the component is a turbomachine component.

Assignees

• Nuovo Pignone Srl

Inventors

• Giovannetti Iacopo
• Tozzi Pierluigi
• Giannozzi Massimo

Classifications

• B22F12/49

  Scanners · CPC title

• B22F10/64

  by thermal means (control of energy beam parameters for post heating B22F10/364) · CPC title

• B22F10/368

  Temperature or temperature gradient, e.g. temperature of the melt pool · CPC title

• B22F10/32

  of the atmosphere, e.g. composition or pressure in a building chamber · CPC title

• B22F10/34

  of powder characteristics, e.g. density, oxidation or flowability · CPC title