Journal of Loss Prevention in The Process Industries, Vol.49, 888-895, 2017
Ignition and explosibility of aluminium alloys used in Additive Layer Manufacturing
The ALM process (Additive Layer Manufacturing) uses metallic alloy powders with an average diameter in the range of 10-30 mu m. This study concerns the characterization of an Al Si 10 Mg aluminium alloy spherical powder with a d(50) of 17 mu m and an oxide amount of 7-8 wt%. The MIE, P-max and K-st are respectively 11-14 mJ, 8.5 bara and 165 bar m/s. The particle temperature measurement shows two levels of temperature: 3050 K during the first steps of the combustion and the second of 2550 K which occurs a short time after the K-st time. Finally, ignition delays are almost constant on a large range of dust concentrations and are at the same level as hydrocarbons. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.