LD-I-6
Characterization of the emission of laser deposition additive manufacturing process
A. Nagy1, S. Kugler1,I. Kreisz2, M. Veres1, A. Czitrovszky1
1H.A.S. Wigner Research Centre for Physics, Applied and Nonlinear Optics, Budapest, Hungary 2Lasram Engineering Ltd., R&D Management, Budapest, Hungary
The laser metal deposition technology is becoming one of the most important manufacturing technologies in the industry, due to its capabilities when building-up new prototype parts, enhancing or repairing parts. While significant progress has been made in understanding additive manufacturing processes and the structure and properties of the fabricated metallic components, the possible health effects related to the generated smoke during the processes are not widely recognized. Metal powders produced by inert gas atomization, contain alveolar as well as inhalable dust fractions and may contain hazardous elements. It is of crucial importance to recognize the potential hazards and provide a safe environment for the exposed persons.
Different instruments ware used to measure the properties of the generated smoke while building-up a part from different alloys with an AM machine. The number and mass concentrations of the particles were measured by an Optical Particle Counter (Grimm 1.109) with 31 size channels in the range of 0.3-32 |im, an Aerodynamic Particle Sizer Spectrometer (TSI 3321) with 52 size channels in the range of 0.5-20 |im, a Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer (Grimm ) with 64 size channels per decade in the range of 0.01-1 |im. The particles were also sampled by a cascade impactor and microscopy were utilized to characterize the morphology of the particles. The research was supported by the Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Fund under grant No. 2017-1.3.1 -VKE-2017-00039.