AL- & MG-COMPATIBLE BLASTING MATERIAL FOR BLAST CLEANING THEREOF BASED ON ALSC POWDER

Abstract

A blasting medium for blasting a component, wherein the component comprises Al and/or Mg, especially an Al and/or Mg alloy, to a method of blasting a component, wherein the component comprises Al and/or Mg, especially an Al and/or Mg alloy, and a method of producing a blasting medium are described herein.

Claims

1. A blasting medium for blasting a component, wherein the component comprises Al and/or Mg, wherein the blasting medium comprises an Al and/or Mg alloy.

2. The blasting medium according to claim 1, wherein the blasting medium comprises an AlSc alloy.

3. The blasting medium according to claim 1, wherein the blasting medium comprises particles of the Al and/or Mg alloy having a size of 45 m or more.

4. The blasting medium according to claim 1, wherein a content of Sc in the blasting medium is at least 0.5% by weight, based on the blasting medium.

5. The blasting medium according to claim 1, wherein the blasting medium has been hardened by a heat treatment at a temperature of 250 C.-400 C. and/or within a period of 15-6000 min and/or has a hardness of >150 HB.

6. A method of blasting a component, wherein the component comprises Al and/or Mg, wherein the blasting medium comprises an Al and/or Mg alloy, wherein the method comprises: blasting the compound with the blasting medium.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the blasting medium comprises an AlSc alloy.

8. The method according to claim 6, wherein the blasting medium comprises particles of the Al and/or Mg alloy having a size of 45 m or more.

9. The method according to claim 6, wherein a content of Sc in the blasting medium is at least 0.5% by weight, based on the blasting medium.

10. The method according to claim 6, wherein the blasting medium has been hardened by a heat treatment at a temperature of 250 C.-400 C. and/or within a period of 15-6000 min and/or has a hardness of >150 HB.

11. The method according to claim 6, wherein the component has been produced by a powder fusion method or a powder sintering method, wherein the component further comprises a material of the same type as the blasting medium.

12. The method of producing a blasting medium, wherein an Al and/or Mg alloy is atomized from a melt, and a particle fraction is sieved out of the particles thus produced.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein particles having a size of 45 m or more, are sieved out of the particles produced as blasting medium, wherein the sieved-out particles are hardened at a temperature of 250 C.-400 C. and/or within a period of 15-6000 min.

14. The method of producing a blasted component, wherein the component comprises Al and/or Mg, wherein the component is produced by a powder fusion method or a powder sintering method and is blasted with a blasting medium according to claim 1.

15. A component, wherein the component comprises Al and/or Mg, wherein the component is produced by a powder fusion method or a powder sintering method and is blasted with a blasting medium according to claim 1.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0048] The present invention is elucidated in detail hereinafter by the working examples given in the schematic figures. The figure shows:

[0049] FIG. 1 a schematic of a method of producing a component, wherein the component is blasted with the blasting medium of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0050] The appended figures are intended to impart further understanding of the embodiments of the invention. They illustrate embodiments and, in connection with the description, serve to elucidate principles and concepts of the invention. Other embodiments and many of the advantages mentioned are apparent with regard to the drawings. The elements of the drawings are not necessarily shown true to scale in relation to one another.

[0051] In the figures of the drawing, elements, features and components that are the same, have the same function and have the same effectunless stated otherwiseare each given the same reference numerals.

[0052] FIG. 1 shows, in schematic form, a procedure by which, in a method, an illustrative component and an illustrative blasting medium can be produced and the component can be blasted with the blasting medium.

[0053] In an illustrative production method for a blasted component according to the invention and also the production of a blasting material according to the invention, in a first step 1, a melt comprising Al, Mg and Sc is produced. One example of such a melt is a melt of AlMg.sub.4.5Sc.sub.0.75Zr.sub.0.3, which can be produced, for example, at a temperature of about 800 C. In one step, atomizing of the melt comprising Al, Mg and Sc, i.e., for example, of the AlMg.sub.4.5Sc.sub.0.75Zr.sub.0.3 melt, takes place, which is not particularly restricted. The result here is a powder of the alloy, which is referred to hereinafter as AlMgSc powder. In a subsequent step 3, the AlMgSc powder produced is separated and sieved out. Then, in step 4, the separated powder fractions can be used to produce a component using a first powder fraction and to provide a further powder fraction for production of a blasting medium. For example, a fraction having a particle size of less than 20 m can be separated from the AlMgSc powder, and this can be fed in turn, for example, to step 1, since the particles of the fraction may be too small for the production of a component. A further fraction may, for example, have a particle size within a range of 20 to <65 m, which is used for production of a component by means of a laser powder bed fusion method (which is not particularly restricted). A further, third fraction of the powder having a particle size of, for example, 65 m or more, e.g. 75 m-200 m, can then be used to produce a blasting medium. In step 5, this further, third powder fraction is then hardened to produce the blasting medium, for example at a temperature of 325 C. for a period of 120 min. This makes the blasting medium harder than the component, such that it is of good suitability for abrasive blast cleaning. In step 6, the component produced in step 4 is blasted with the blasting medium produced in step 5, for example for a blast cleaning and/or blast smoothing operation and/or consolidation blasting of the component produced by means of the laser powder bed fusion method. This production step 6 may followed by an optional step 7 in which the blasting medium is reused or utilized again, for example by separating it off again by sieving after the blasting.

[0054] While at least one exemplary embodiment of the present invention(s) is disclosed herein, it should be understood that modifications, substitutions and alternatives may be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art and can be made without departing from the scope of this disclosure. This disclosure is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the exemplary embodiment(s). In addition, in this disclosure, the terms comprise or comprising do not exclude other elements or steps, the terms a or one do not exclude a plural number, and the term or means either or both. Furthermore, characteristics or steps which have been described may also be used in combination with other characteristics or steps and in any order unless the disclosure or context suggests otherwise. This disclosure hereby incorporates by reference the complete disclosure of any patent or application from which it claims benefit or priority.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

[0055] 1 Production of a melt comprising Al, Mg and Sc [0056] 2 Atomizing of the melt comprising Al, Mg and Sc [0057] 3 Separating and sieving-out of the AlMgSc powder obtained [0058] 4 Production of a component using a powder fraction and provision of a further powder fraction for production of a blasting medium [0059] 5 Hardening of the further powder fraction to produce the blasting medium [0060] 6 Blasting of the component with the blasting medium [0061] 7 Optionally reuse of the blasting medium