Additive manufacturing is in full expansion, from prototyping to aerospace parts. It is also used to produce coatings with unmatched performance.

Unfortunately, while some technologies such as selective laser melting can (re)cycle internally the unused powder because it is not deteriorated during printing, techniques such as plasma spraying generate a large amount of by-products that were not used during spraying. Some technologies have a 55% efficiency, meaning that almost half of the powder ends up in the extraction system and eventually in the waste garbage bin.

At present, there is no real valorisation of these residual powders. In the best case, they are incinerated to produce energy, but with all the constraints of handling metal powders.

Objectives

• The objective of this work is to study the valorisation of residual metal powders either reused in additive manufacturing or agglomerated for their metallurgical value, alone or with other co-products.
• The study will include the following steps:
• Literature review;
• Characterisation of residual powder samples: morphology, granulometry, optical analyses, chemical composition, others…;
• Identification of possible valorisation routes;
• Experimental study of one or two selected routes;
• Data compilation and writing of a report.

About the candidate

Student in engineering: chemistry, materials, environment, mechanics, or related

Languages: English and French