Effect of IN718 recycled powder reuse on properties of parts manufactured by means of Selective Laser Melting

Powder quality control is essential to obtain parts with suitable mechanical properties in Selective Laser Melting manufacturing technique. One of the most important advantages of such technique is that it allows an efficient use of the material, due to the possibility to recycle and reuse un-melted powder. Nevertheless, powder material properties may change due to repeated recycling, affecting this way the mechanical behavior of parts. In this paper the effect of powder reuse on its quality and on the mechanical properties of the resulting melted parts is studied via self-developed recycling methodology. The material considered for investigation was IN718, a nickel superalloy widely used in industry. After recycling powder up to 14 times, no significant changes were observed in powder and test parts properties. The results obtained in this work will help to validate powder recycling methodology for its use in current industrial Selective Laser Melting manufacturing. (C) 2014 Published by Elsevier B.V.