Recycling AM Powders is a critical step in the 3D printing process. After builds, there is still virgin powder inside the powder bed that can be reused for printing. However, some of these particles have come in contact with the laser and are no longer good for use. These particles are called “splatter” and need to be removed using a sieving machine. The quicker companies can recycle AM powders, the faster they can get their printer up and running.
We have developed a new system to assist in the recycling of AM powders. The Hi-Sifter Powder Reclaiming System was developed specifically for the additive manufacturing industry. The construction of the unit is 100% polished stainless steel, which means it is suitable for Aerospace and Bio Medical applications. The explosion proof vacuum system allows for powders to be transported in a completely inert environment. The Hi-Sifter also has inert capabilities, which means minimal handling of potentially explosive powders.
Recycling AM Powders has quickly become the bottleneck in the 3D printing industry. Lack of efficiency by standard conventional screeners forces companies to screen powders above their desired powder spec. Furthermore, these standard screeners lack the energy required to make fine separations, which means that they need to significantly reduce the processing speed in order to make these separations.
We have helped numerous metal powder producers to condition their metal powders for sale on the market using the Hi-Sifter. Now we have taken the machine that the powder producers are using and have made it suitable for the end users. The system employs the same high energy approach on the screen, which allows for very fine separations of powder. The energy on the screen prevents particles from clogging the holes and blinding up the screen mesh. Powder can flow seamlessly through the screen opening and the Hi-Sifter quickly discharges of oversize, while collecting product in the steel bottles.
This energy on the screen allows for higher processing rates and in turn, less down time for your printer. Stop allowing the recycling of AM powders to slow your process and find out how we can help today!
Common Metal Powders Our System Works With:
Nickel Powder
Nickel powder is a dense metal powder that has many characteristics that make it difficult to sieve. Spherical nickel powder has the tendency to blind screens and can quickly overload a screen if not properly monitored. Non-spherical nickel powder tends to have a porous texture and looks almost like coral. This can be difficult to screen because many of the particles are high-aspect, angular and only fit through the screen hole in one direction.
Our Experience
Nickel powder is one of our favorite powders to run because it requires some tricks and experience to get it to run properly. We have systems in place that can sieve nickel powder at virtually any screen size. We can go very coarse with the powder and even do fines removals at 10 microns for our many customers. Using our Hi-Sifter and MINOX technologies, we are capable of making virtually any cuts required on this powder.
Aluminum powder has many applications which range from being used in rocket fuel to an additive in the 3D printing industry. Aluminum powder particles are often misshaped, which can make the product difficult to screen. Aluminum powder has the tendency to grab on to the wire cloth of the screen and can lead to blinding issues. It is an explosive powder and needs to be handled with extreme care.
Our Experience
We have extensive experience screening aluminum powder. Using our high energy screeners, we have been able to screen aluminum powder down to 20 microns. We have toll screened over 5 million pounds of aluminum powder for one of the largest producers in the world. This experience has allowed us to develop a system where we can screen aluminum powder in a totally inert environment. Let our experience and expertise help find a solution to any of your aluminum powder screening needs.
Silver powder is a very high valued precious metal used often times in electronics components. Silver powder has a tendency to agglomerate and coin together, which can lead to difficulty screening it. Often times particles are irregular or misshaped and this can lead to blinding of the screen. For high value metal powders like silver, it is imperative to keep yield loss to a minimum in order to maximize the value of the product.
Our Experience
We have helped numerous customers in the silver powder industry to find solutions for their screening needs. Using our Hi-Sifter technology we were able to successfully remove fines at 15 microns with 97% efficiency. Even with the low percentage of open area on the screen at 15 microns we still were able to achieve rates of 100 pounds per hour. The high energy approach of the Hi-Sifter prevented the silver powder from blinding and allowed for minimum yield loss. The totally stainless steel bar underneath prevented any agglomerating underneath the screening surface that can occur with an adapter beneath the screen.
Iron powder is a major component in many nutritional supplements as well as being used in products like pots and pans and also in the production of steel. Iron powder is a very heavy metal powder, which means that having a lot of energy is needed to screen it. Iron powder also often has angular shaped particles, needles, which is stood up can fit through the screen hole opening and cause the appearance of over sized material in the under size.
Our Experience
We have done a number of projects with screening iron powder. We helped a customer screen out the needles in their iron powder at 15 microns using a Hi-Sifter. By reducing dwell time on the screen and increasing the hertz of the equipment, the needles in the product never got time to stand up and were screened off. We also did a project with iron powder where we used our high energy screeners to break up clumps that had formed in the powder. The result was a higher yield and increased profits for the customer.
Titanium powder is a spherical shaped metal powder that is now one of the major powders used in the additive manufacturing (3D printing) industry. A problem that occurs with screening titanium powder is that near sized, spherical particles get caught in the square shaped hole and cause clogging. Titanium powder also has the tendency to coat the screen causing blinding. Keeping the particles up in the air so they don’t have time to settle in the screen openings is key to making an efficient separation. The powder is also explosive and must be handled carefully.
Our Experience
We have the ability to remove fines from titanium powder at sizes as low as 10 microns. We have had numerous successful trials on titanium powder for the additive manufacturing industry and have already sold a number of machines to titanium powder producers. The Hi-Sifter’s high vertical energy keeps the particles in the air and prevents them from getting a chance to settle on and blind the screen. The entire body of the Hi-Sifter is stainless steel so there is no non-metal contact area within the screening machine. We have achieved extremely high efficiencies on titanium at very low micron sizes and titanium, especially has been a very successful application for the Hi-Sifter.