Recycling and 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 the unit cost and reduce dependence on foreign supplies, which is especially critical for defense industries.  However, the purity level of the metal powders will decrease with an increased recycling time. As a technical advancement, Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc. (ACT) proposes a novel powder treatment technology to improve the purity level of the metal powders during the recycling process and subsequently increase the lifespan of metal powders.  The proposed technology has been tested on various metal powders, and improvements in the powder purity level have been observed after the proposed treatment.