The present invention relates to metal powders which are suitable to be employed in 3D printing processes as well as a process for the production of said powders.

The disclosed exemplary apparatuses, systems and methods may provide a pulverant suitable to provide a three-dimensional molding by use of the pulverant in a layer-by-layer additive manufacturing process in which regions of respective layers of pulverant are selectively melted via introduction of electromagnetic energy. The pulverant may comprise a spray dried, thermoplastic polyurethane polymer (TPU) coated, inorganic or organic base particle.

Systems and methods for developing tough hypoeutectic amorphous metal-based materials for additive manufacturing, and methods of additive manufacturing using such materials are provided. The methods use 3D printing of discrete thin layers during the assembly of bulk parts from metallic glass alloys with compositions selected to improve toughness at the expense of glass forming ability. The metallic glass alloy used in manufacturing of a bulk part is selected to have minimal glass forming ability for the per layer cooling rate afforded by the manufacturing process, and may be specially composed for high toughness.

A powder cleaning system can include a fluidized bed reactor configured to retain powder and fluidize the powder to remove adsorbate and/or other contaminants from the powder, and one or more gas sources configured to be in selective fluid communication with the fluidized bed reactor via at least one inlet line to selectively provide an inlet flow having one or more gases to the fluidized bed reactor to fluidize the powder with the one or more gases within the fluidized bed reactor. The system can include at least one outlet line in fluid communication with the fluidized bed reactor and configured to allow removal of outlet flow which comprises the adsorbate and/or other contaminants from the fluidized bed reactor.

There is provided a cobalt-based alloy product comprising: in mass %, 0.08-0.25% C; 0.1% or less B; 10-30% Cr; 5% or less Fe and 30% or less Ni, the total amount of Fe and Ni being 30% or less; W and/or Mo, the total amount of W and Mo being 5-12%; 0.5% or less Si; 0.5% or less Mn; 0.003-0.04% N; 0.5 to 2 mass % of an M component being a transition metal other than W and Mo and having an atomic radius of more than 130 pm; and the balance being Co and impurities. The impurities include 0.5% or less Al and 0.04% or less O. The product is a polycrystalline body of matrix phase crystal grains. In the matrix phase crystal grains, segregation cells with an average size of 0.13-2 μm are formed, in which the M component is segregated in boundary regions of the segregation cells.

An additive manufacturing device (AMD) for manufacturing objects through deposition of superposed layers of material in a granulate or powder form, the AMD comprising: a hydraulic cylinder; a mold for sealable attachment to the hydraulic cylinder; a material deposition station having an outlet for depositing the material in the mold layer-by-layer; a heating element; and a compressor. Between the deposition of one or more layers of material in the mold, the mold and the hydraulic cylinder are sealably attached to form a pressure container, the compressor injects gas in the container to increase a pressure within the pressure container and the heating element provides heat within the pressure container to further increase the pressure and to perform sintering or high-temperature synthesis of the material while submitting the material to the pressure.

An additive manufacturing device (AMD) for manufacturing objects through deposition of superposed layers of material in a granulate or powder form, the AMD comprising: a hydraulic cylinder; a mold for sealable attachment to the hydraulic cylinder; a material deposition station having an outlet for depositing the material in the mold layer-by-layer; a heating element; and a compressor. Between the deposition of one or more layers of material in the mold, the mold and the hydraulic cylinder are sealably attached to form a pressure container, the compressor injects gas in the container to increase a pressure within the pressure container and the heating element provides heat within the pressure container to further increase the pressure and to perform sintering or high-temperature synthesis of the material while submitting the material to the pressure.

A component has a matrix phase composed of at least one material selected from the group molybdenum, a molybdenum-based alloy, tungsten, a tungsten-based alloy and a molybdenum-tungsten-based alloy. The component is manufactured using a laser or electron beam in an additive manufacturing process. The molybdenum content, the tungsten content or the total content of molybdenum and tungsten is more than 85 at %, and the component contains particulates having a melting point above the melting point of the matrix phase.

A component has a solid structure that is manufactured using a laser or electron beam in an additive manufacturing process. The solid structure is formed from at least one material selected from the group consisting of molybdenum, a molybdenum-based alloy, tungsten, a tungsten-based alloy, and a molybdenum-tungsten-based alloy. The component includes one or more alloying element which at least in the temperature range 1500° C. has/have a reducing effect, as follows: in the case of molybdenum and the molybdenum-based alloy, for MoO.sub.2 and/or MoO.sub.3; in the case of tungsten and the tungsten-based alloy, for WO.sub.2 and/or WO.sub.3; and, in the case of the molybdenum-tungsten-based alloy, for at least one oxide from the group of MoO.sub.2, MoO.sub.3, WO.sub.2 and WO.sub.3. The alloying element, or at least one of the alloying elements, is present both in at least partially unoxidized form and in oxidized form.

In various embodiments, additive manufacturing is utilized to fabricate three-dimensional metallic parts using metallic alloy wire as a feedstock material.