Recycling & Reuse of Powders, Test Specimens, and Scrap Materials in Additive Manufacturing

With the recent development of metal additive manufacturing (AM) technologies, an increasing need for metal powder recycling is emerging.  The adoption of high-quality recycled metal powder can effectively reduce unit costs and reduce dependence on foreign supplies, which is especially critical for defense industries.  However, the purity level of the metal powders decreases each time the powders are reused.  As a technical advancement, Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc. (ACT) proposes to continue its novel powder treatment technology development, having already demonstrated technical performance and commercialization potential during the Phase I effort. The proposed technology has been tested on various metal powders, and improvements in the powder purity level have been observed after the proposed treatment.