Method for manufacturing machine components by additive manufacturing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017209923-A1
Application number	US-201515327645-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 20, 2015
Priority date	Jul 21, 2014
Publication date	Jul 27, 2017
Grant date	—

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 machine component made of a metal-based material, the method comprising:
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 equal to or less than about 5 micrometers and less than an average grain size of the metal-containing powder material; and forming the component by an additive manufacturing process using the powder blend.

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 5nm.

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 at least one 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 powder blend comprises between about 0.01% and about 48% by weight the at least one strengthening dispersor in powder form.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the powder blend comprises between about 0.2% and about 20% by weight of the at least one strengthening dispersor in powder form.

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

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the metal-containing powder material is an atomized powder.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one strengthening dispersor in powder form is a ceramic material.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one strengthening dispersor in powder form is an oxide.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one strengthening dispersor in powder form 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, Si 3 N 4, AlN, SiC, TaC, WC, and combinations thereof.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one metal-containing powder material is a high-temperature superalloy.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the high-temperature superalloy 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.

16 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the metal-containing powder material is one of a silicide, an alluminide, or a refractory-metal containing compound.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the metal-containing powder material is selected from the group consisting of: Nb 3 Si, MoSi 2, TaSi, MoSiNb, NiAl, and FeAl.

18 . The method of claim 1 , wherein of providing a powder blend comprises:
producing the metal-containing powder material with a first average grain size; producing the 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.

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

20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the at least one heat-treatment step comprises a hot isostatic pressing step.

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

Assignees

• Nuovo Pignone Srl

Inventors

• Giovannetti Iacopo
• Tozzi Pierluigi
• Giannozzi Massimo

Classifications

• B22F10/28 Primary

  Powder bed fusion, e.g. selective laser melting [SLM] or electron beam melting [EBM] · CPC title

• B22F10/32

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

• B22F10/64

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

• B22F12/49

  Scanners · CPC title

• B22F10/368

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