Grant: Engage Grants Program

To increase widespread implementation of additive manufacturing in many industries, improving cost*affordability of this state of the art manufacturing technology, while maintaining the part's quality, is crucial.*Additive Metal Manufacturing Inc. (AMM), the industrial partner, has been investigating an innovative idea of*separating partially melted or condensate powder from the unmelted powder through a sieving operation,*collected during the direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) process, and reusing this recycled powder again as the*feedstock powder for further manufacturing. However, the number of permitted powder reuse cycles without*adversely affecting the properties of the printed component is still unknown to AMM. This knowledge is very*crucial in producing high-quality parts with consistent properties particularly for harsh environment*applications, such as in marine and aerospace, in which high corrosion resistivity of the component, quality*control, and standardization are critical requirements. In this project, the impact of powder reuse times on*corrosion resistance and integrity of the DMLS fabricated AlSi10Mg_200C parts produced from recycled*powders versus its virgin powder fabricated counterpart in a simulated marine environment will be investigated*by our research team. This project aims to enhance the competitiveness of metal additive manufacturing*technology in Canada with advanced, innovative, and fast powder bed technologies. In addition, this project*will help AMM and other manufacturer in Canada to adopt greener manufacturing practices in accordance with*Government of Canada mandate on lowering carbon footprint through the use of recycled powders in additive*manufacturing of lighter metals.