Plasma spheroidisation and characterisation of commercial titanium grade 5 powder for use in metal additive manufacturing

Abstract

Low density, high strength, high corrosion resistance, and biocompatibility are some of the attractive characteristics of parts produced through additive manufacturing from Ti6Al4V powder. This alpha-beta alloy is the workhorse of the titanium industry, and it is applied for manufacturing of structural components of aircraft, hydraulic systems, engine components, helicopter rotor blades, rockets and spacecraft. In the study presented in this paper, a plasma spheroidisation process was used to develop spherical powder from irregularly shaped commercial titanium Grade 5 powder. Properties of the powder relevant to metal additive manufacturing, namely particle shape and size, chemical composition, flow characteristics and density, were determined to establish the usability of the developed powder. It was concluded that plasma spheroidisation of irregularly shaped Ti6Al4V Grade 5 powder for AM application was feasible for powder size ranges between 45 and 150 μm, because the oxygen content did not increase for size fractions in this range.