Disclosed herein are embodiments of mechanically alloyed powder feedstock and methods for spheroidizing them using microwave plasma processing. The spheroidized powder can be used in metal injection molding processes, hot isostatic processing, and additive manufacturing. In some embodiments, mechanical milling, such as ball milling, can be used to prepare high entropy alloys for microwave plasma processing.

A powder production method includes providing at least one elongated member including a ductile material; providing a rotating or vibrating cutter configured to repeatedly cut an end of the at least one elongated member to produce particles; and advancing the at least one elongated member or the cutter towards the other of the at least one elongated member or the cutter to cut the particles from the at least one elongated member to produce a powder comprising a plurality of the particles. The particles produced by the method can have a diameter ranging from about 10 μm to about 200 μm.

A powder production method includes providing at least one elongated member including a ductile material; providing a rotating or vibrating cutter configured to repeatedly cut an end of the at least one elongated member to produce particles; and advancing the at least one elongated member or the cutter towards the other of the at least one elongated member or the cutter to cut the particles from the at least one elongated member to produce a powder comprising a plurality of the particles. The particles produced by the method can have a diameter ranging from about 10 μm to about 200 μm.

A powder production method includes providing at least one elongated member including a ductile material; providing a rotating or vibrating cutter configured to repeatedly cut an end of the at least one elongated member to produce particles; and advancing the at least one elongated member or the cutter towards the other of the at least one elongated member or the cutter to cut the particles from the at least one elongated member to produce a powder comprising a plurality of the particles. The particles produced by the method can have a diameter ranging from about 10 μm to about 200 μm.

The present disclosure provides a double-powder rapid switching type selective laser melting apparatus. The laser melting apparatus includes a building system, a powder recovery system, and a gas circulation system. A powder cylinder and a building cylinder are fixed to a lower end of a building chamber of the building system. A movable cylinder body is removably mounted at an upper end inside the powder cylinder and the building cylinder. After printing with one metal powder is completed, it is convenient and efficient to switch to another metal powder for printing. An air suction port of the gas circulation system is provided with two openings and the air suction port faces a building platform to suck smoke and dust generated during printing with different metal powders. The powder recovery system includes a top powder suction port and a bottom powder suction port for respectively recovering the different metal powders.

A method for additive manufacturing process parameter monitoring of additively manufactured articles and associated raw materials, the method comprising the steps of: at an additive manufacturing raw material supplier located at a first location, packaging a raw additive manufacturing material, which may be a metal powder, and placing a sensor device inside the packaging, wherein the sensor device, which is powered by ambient energy, monitors one or more material parameters, as the packaging moves through a supply chain, and wherein sensed parameters from the sensor device are recorded periodically until the raw material is loaded to an additive manufacturing tool at a second location, different from the first location; prior to utilizing the sensor device, registering an identity for the sensor with blockchain rules to establish a trust on data originating from the sensor device; at an additive manufacturing article supplier located at the second location, using an additive manufacturing tool, manufacturing an article in accordance with a design file provided to the additive manufacturing supplier from an additive manufacturing designer located at a location different from the first and second locations; at the additive manufacturing supplier, utilizing the sensor device to monitor one or more process parameters associated with manufacturing the article, wherein the sensor device is: (1) connected to wireless network, (2) powered by ambient energy, and (3) sized and configured for monitoring the process parameters in situ at the additive manufacturing tool; at the additive manufacturing supplier, sending data regarding the one or more process parameters from the sensor device to a network node associated with the additive manufacturing tool; at the additive manufacturing supplier, generating a cryptographic distributed ledger comprising the data regarding the one or more process parameters, wherein the ledger is generated in the manner of a blockchain; and from the additive manufacturing supplier, the distributed ledger that is also accessible to the additive manufacturing designer using a private network, wherein the analyses of the data regarding the one or more process parameters are performed automatically by the blockchain rules, where in rules defined by additive manufacturing designer, for any anomalies during the manufacture of the article.

A method of additively manufacturing an object includes steps of: (1) selectively depositing build powder inside of a build contour of the object to form a build-powder section of a powder layer; and (2) selectively depositing support powder outside of the build contour to form a support-powder section of the powder layer. According to the method, the build powder includes a build-powder composition, the support powder includes a support-powder composition, and the build-powder composition and the support-powder composition are different.

A method of additively manufacturing an object includes steps of: (1) selectively depositing build powder inside of a build contour of the object to form a build-powder section of a powder layer; and (2) selectively depositing support powder outside of the build contour to form a support-powder section of the powder layer. According to the method, the build powder includes a build-powder composition, the support powder includes a support-powder composition, and the build-powder composition and the support-powder composition are different.

A three-dimensional shaped article production method is a three-dimensional shaped article production method for producing a three-dimensional shaped article by stacking layers and includes a first metal powder supply step of supplying a first metal powder having a first average particle diameter to a shaping table, a layer formation step of forming the layer by compressing the first metal powder supplied to the shaping table, a first liquid supply step of supplying a first liquid containing a binder and a second metal powder having a second average particle diameter that is an average particle diameter 1/10 or more and ½ or less the first average particle diameter to at least a portion of a constituent region of the three-dimensional shaped article, a second liquid supply step of supplying a second liquid that contains a binder, but does not contain a metal powder to at least a portion of a surface layer region in the constituent region, and a sintering step of sintering a metal in the constituent region by heating a stacked body.

An austenitic stainless steel alloy having antibacterial properties, corrosion resistance properties, and good hardness and strength is provided. A method of manufacturing by gas atomization, metal additive manufacturing, and heat treatment is also provided. The stainless steel alloy composition and powder consisting of chromium (Cr), molybdenum (Mo), manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), silicon (Si), nitrogen (N), carbon (C) and iron (Fe) is described. The alloy can be processed into spherical powder by gas atomization or other methods suitable for metal additive manufacturing or metal 3D printing. The powder can be processed by metal additive manufacturing into articles. Heat treatment promotes the formation of copper nanoprecipitates leading to excellent antibacterial properties and good mechanical properties. The constituent elements of the alloy provide for good corrosion resistance.