Melt Pool Signatures of TiN Nanoparticle Dry-Coated Co25Cr25Fe25Ni25 Metal Powder in Laser-Powder-bed-fusion

Metal powders in laser-powder-bed-fusion (L-PBF) often exhibit cohesive flow resulting from interparticle adhesion. Nanoparticle dry-coating can improve powder flowability and promote powder layer densification. A Co25Cr25Fe25Ni25 metal powder (20–90 µm) is dry-coated with TiN particles with a diameter of 16 nm at low concentrations of up to 69 ppm. The dynamic angle of repose decreased and bulk powder density increased compared to the uncoated state from 49 ° and 4.67 g/cm3 to 29 ° and 4.81 g/cm3 with dry-coating of TiN, respectively. UV/Vis spectroscopy showed negligible alterations by TiN additions on the powder light absorption. The powder modifications strongly affected their corresponding processability in L-PBF and reduced the melt pool signatures of the in situ detected confocal single-color pyrometer signal as well as ex situ measured melt pool depth and width. With increasing flowability, a significant decrease in thermal emission and melt pool size was observed. The results demonstrate the impact of powder flowability and bulk powder density on the quality of L-PBF parts when particle interactions are actively modified.