This document provides an example of the relation between the characterization of certain macroscopic properties of metallic powders and their spreadability in an PBF-LB/M AM machines.

This relation is based on a new technique combining measurements inside a PBF-LB/M machine and image processing developed to quantify the homogeneity of the powder bed layers during spreading.

In this document, the flowability of five metal powders are investigated with an automated rotating drum method, whose dynamic cohesive index measurement is shown to establish a correlation with the spreadability of the powder during the layer deposition operation. Furthemore, the particule size distribution (PSD) and morphology of each powder is characterized before testing by static image analysis method (according to ISO 13322-1).

The general principle of the method is described in Figure 1.