linde GASES FOR USE IN Additive Manufacturing BY POWDER PRODUCERS
Powder Production for Additive Manufacturing
Additive manufacturing is also referred to as 3D Printing. It is a technology that allows manufacturers to produce three-dimensional parts from a polymer or a metal. In order to create metal parts through the additive manufacturing process, it is important to ensure that the powder metals meet specifications and are free of defects, prior to moving on to the next step. The proper atmosphere is critical to the quality and final composition of powder metal production.
When making many specialty metal powders, argon is used to provide the most inert atmosphere. Due to the high temperatures often required, the use of oxygen and sometimes nitrogen will react with many advanced materials, leading to the formation of metallic oxides and nitrides. Oxides and nitrides should be avoided to reduce the risk of defects in the final product.
Linde offers argon, nitrogen, and hydrogen for all gas applications related to the powder metal industry, including powder metal manufacturing.
Cold Spray Additive Manufacturing
Cold spray additive manufacturing is an efficient process to build components and structures at high deposition rates. With cold spray, the metal powder is not melted, allowing for heat-related distortion to be avoided. In cold spraying, tiny particles of metal powder are propelled onto an untreated surface with the help of our high-pressure industrial gases.
LINSPRAY® Connect is a gas supply option tailored to cold spraying, developed in collaboration with Impact Innovations. It combines Linde's long-standing expertise in cold spraying, thermal spraying and gas supply systems with Impact Innovations’ market-leading Impact EvoCSII System for superior control over cold spraying processes.
Benefits
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All-inclusive offering
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Stable flow of high-purity process gases at the correct temperature and pressure
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Minimal to no fluctuations in gas supply parameters
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Greater process control for less risk of damage to the cold spray system
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Real-time monitoring for reduced downtime
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Fewer rejects and less rework
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Integration into smart factory systems
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Ease of scalability as needs grow
Discover the potential of LINSPRAY Connect and leverage the productivity and innovation benefits of cold spraying for your market.
3D Printing
Our in-depth knowledge in powder metallurgy and atmosphere control also feeds into the 3D printing process, where we help our customers find the perfect gases for their 3D printing step. Today, three-dimensional object printing is becoming more common and Linde has a wide array of gases to meet those demands. These gases include the basics, such as nitrogen and argon to specialty mixes and high purity types.
We also offer gas supply systems in a variety of sizes to align with your gas volume requirements. From cylinder quantities to meet your small batch fabrication to large merchant systems to meet your serial production, we are here to help you select the gases and supply systems that will help optimize your automated 3D printing technology.
Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP)
HIP has been a beneficial step for additive manufacturing powder and parts because the use of high heat and high pressure reduces the porosity of metals and increases the density. These are two characteristics ideal in an additive manufactured part. In order for the HIP process to deliver quality results, it is important to maintain proper atmosphere control. You can obtain an inert atmosphere by using argon or nitrogen to avoid any possible chemical reactions that may negatively affect your parts.
Linde has the experience and product offerings necessary to properly address the challenges you may be facing with your HIP process. Our team can review your current operations, analyze furnace requirements, evaluate gas consumption, compression needs, and buffering for HIP processes to recommend and properly properly design a gas supply system that gives you quality results.
Learn more about how Linde can help meet your HIP requirements.
Learn more about Linde's gas applications for manufacturing and materials processing.