In the new research, scientists at NUST MISIS have enhanced the technology of 3-D printing from aluminum and increased the hardness of the products by 1.5 times. The nanocarbon additive for aluminum powder is obtained by the processing products related to the petroleum gas. It could advance the quality of 3-D printed aerospace composites.
Recently, the creation of high-tech parts for the aviation and space industries is one of the most important fields of application for aluminum 3-D printing. The existence of even the least defects in printed structures is severe to the safety of the technology being developed. As per the NUST MISIS scientists, the major menace of such defects in the high porosity of the material. Along with these other reasons are the qualities of the original aluminum powder. The scientists from the MISIS Catalis Lab added carbon nanofibers to the aluminum powder in order to make sure a dense and uniform microstructure of printed products. The utilization of this modifying additive makes it possible to guarantee a low porosity of the material together with a rise in its hardness by 1.5 times.
Researchers noticed that modifying the chemical composition and phase of the powder for printing helps in improving its properties.
Researchers noticed that altering the phase and chemical composition of powder for printing by means of introducing additional components into the main matrix leads to improvement in its properties. In particular, carbon nanofibers contain high thermal conductivity, which helps to decrease temperature gradients between printed layers at the stage of selective laser melting during the synthesis of the product. Due to this, inhomogeneities present in the microstructure of the material can be eliminated.
This new and improved 3-D Printing technology for aerospace composites leads to high usage in the aerospace and defense sector, thus creating a positive impact on the growth of 3d printing materials market at the global scale.
In the future outlook, the research team is planning to find out the most favorable conditions for selective laser melting of fresh composite powders. Also, he wants to build up technology for post-processing and industrial usage of synthesized products.