SFA-AM - Strategic Focus Area Advanced Manufacturing
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Powder Focusing

Powder focusing for beam induced laser 3D printing
The most flexible 3D freeform manufacturing method is laser melting of a powder jet oriented onto a moving substrate. One example of such an Additive Manufacturing technology is Laser Metal Deposition (LMD). The obtained dimensions of the structures are usually in the millimeter to several tens of millimeter range. Smaller structures are presently limited by several factors including the applied laser spot size, the precision of the mechanical tables, the powder particle diameters (> 20 µm) of flowable powders and the powder jet spot size.
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The aim of the project is to find technical solutions for transporting small particle powders (< 10 µm largest diameter) at high rate to a spot smaller than 20 µm. The approach is to combine different processing techniques, in particular acoutic focusing, liquid jetting and microwave drying techniques, in a new type of powder focusing system. The system will be mounted on a deposition chamber with a laser focused to comparable spot dimensions (<25 µm diameter) in a 3-axis system guaranteeing the needed performance with respect to precision of better than 5 µm in all three dimensions.

Scope of Research Activities
  • Production of dispersions of powders in liquids and its de-agglomeration
  • Acoustic focussing of solid particles in liquids
  • Coupling the coaxially focused dispersion into a nozzle for electrohydrodynamic droplet formation
  • Controlled droplet or jet ejection
  • Microwave drying of the powder before reaching the laser spot or the melt pool
  • Integration of the new powder focusing system into a deposition chamber and laser melting device
  • Modelling and simulation of particle behaviour in liquids, drop formation, jetting and drying processes

Key Technical Problems to Solve
  • Re-agglomeration of particles in the powder dispersions
  • Abrasion in the jetting nozzle by the particles due to insufficient acoustic focusing
  • Insufficient speed or accuracy of the jetting process
  • Incomplete drying of particles and droplets before they enter the melt pool or laser beam

Demonstrators
  • Metal spring (40 µm wire diameter, 200 µm spring diameter, 2 mm height)
Leading Principal Investigator
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Prof. Dr. Patrik Hoffmann
Laboratory for Advanced Materials Processing, Empa

Project Consortium
  • Prof. Dr. Jürg Dual, Institute of
    Mechanical Systems, ETH Zürich
  • Prof. Dr. François Gallaire, Laboratory of
    Fluid Mechanics and Instabilities, EPFL
  • Dr. Manuel Pouchon, Laboratory for
    Nuclear Materials, PSI
  • Prof. Dr. Dimos Poulikakos, Laboratory of Thermodynamics in Emerging Technologies, ETH Zürich
An initiative of the ETH Board
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Participating Institutions of the ETH Domain
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  • Home
  • Focus Areas
    • Focus Areas 2017-2020 >
      • Precision Free-Form Manufacturing
      • Printed Electronics
      • Sustainable Digital Manufacturing and Design
      • Sensing Technologies
      • Intelligent Systems and Advanced Automation
    • Focus Areas 2021-2024 >
      • Manufacturing Technologies
      • Functionality Integration
      • Sensing Technologies
      • Intelligent Systems and Advanced Automation
  • Calls & Selection
    • Initial Program
    • Expansion Program
    • Period 2021-2024
  • Projects
    • Projects Initial Program >
      • Ceramic X.0
      • FUORCLAM
      • Powder Focusing
      • PREAMPA
      • FOXIP
      • CFRP-AM
      • SD4D
    • Projects Expansion Program >
      • D-SENSE
      • MOCONT
      • Nano Assembly
      • X-Ray Diagnostics
  • Events
    • Annual Review Meeting 2020
    • Workshop 13 July 2020
    • Annual Review Meeting 2019
    • Annual Review Meeting 2018
    • Launch Event 13 Nov 2017
    • Workshop 6 July 2017
    • Workshop 17 Oct 2016
  • About
    • Steering Committee
    • Participating ETH Institutions
  • Contact