Dec 5, 2016 | By Tess

Metal 3D printing is arguably one of the most promising sectors of the additive manufacturing industry, as many fields—including healthcare, aerospace, automotive, and defense—have increasingly been adopting the emerging technology. One of the biggest hurdles within metal additive manufacturing, however, has been the development of new and production-grade materials. Fortunately, we can expect to see much progress on this front as the Ames Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) were recently granted $5 million from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advance Manufacturing Office (AMO) to advance the production and composition of metal alloy powders used in additive manufacturing.

The Advanced Manufacturing Office, which creates partnerships with small businesses, educational institutions, and other organizations to promote and invest in emerging technologies such as 3D printing, recently awarded $5 million to the Ames Laboratory and ORNL to further advance metal alloy powders for 3D printing. The Ames Laboratory, a part of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science operated by Iowa State University, is a facility geared towards the development of new and innovative materials, technologies, and energy solutions. ORNL, for its part, is a DOE multiprogram research facility in Oak Ridge Tennessee that has already made significant contributions to the advancement of 3D printing technologies.

With the $5 million in funding from the AMO, both research labs will seek to develop new metal alloy powders, with optimal properties and qualities for additive manufacturing. Considering this, metal alloy powders, which are the raw material used for metal 3D printing, need to be of optimal quality in order for additively manufactured parts to display strong and durable qualities. So far, while 3D printing as a technology has advanced in leaps and bounds, many industries have been held back due to lack of materials within AM.

As Iver Anderson, project leader and senior metallurgist at Ames Laboratory and adjunct professor in Materials Science and Engineering Department at Iowa State University, explains: “There’s a lot of intense interest focused on additive manufacturing with metal alloys, because there are so many potential applications. Industry has demands for prototyping parts, design development, reducing waste of expensive materials, and efficiently producing custom and legacy components for their customers.”

Anderson added that, as it currently stands, manufacturers are limited in what metal materials they can 3D print with, and what may be in demand is not yet available. “The customization capabilities are just not there, and we need to get there. That is going to be the key to commercially competitive additive manufacturing processes,” he commented.

With the new funding, the two research facilities will seek to advance overall production processes and compositions of metal alloy powders. Specifically, the researchers will continue work on high pressure gas atomization processes that are being pioneered at the Ames Laboratory, and will develop customized metal alloys with optimal properties for additive manufacturing. The experimental gas atomization and alloy design will largely be executed at the powder synthesis facilities at Ames Laboratory. ORNL will conduct additive manufacturing experiments with the materials at its Manufacturing Demonstration Facility.

Posted in 3D Printing Materials

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