Materials

Converting waste into metal powder: the project supported by the CDTI’s MISIONES program

· 2 min read · Samylabs

Powder is the consumable that determines whether an additive manufacturing plant is profitable. Within the CDTI's MISIONS program, we are working on the valorization of ceramic and metal waste: generating powder from it suitable for additive manufacturing and other high-value-added applications.

Why the powder, and not the machine?

Those who buy an LPBF machine look at the price of the equipment. Those who operate it for three years look at the price per kilo of powder, because that's what they pay for time and time again.

That price is determined by a short supply chain, concentrated among a few manufacturers and, in some alloys, subject to export restrictions. For a European SME that wants to produce metal parts, dependence on powder is as real a risk as the price of the machine, and far less discussed.

What is being investigated

The line of work involves obtaining powder from ceramic and metal waste instead of virgin raw materials. If the starting material is waste that currently incurs management costs, two numbers change simultaneously: the cost of consumables decreases, and the process's environmental footprint is reduced.

It's not trivial. A powder for LPBF has to meet the size distribution, sphericity, and flowability requirements of the coating agent, and have controlled chemistry within narrow margins. A residue, by definition, starts out lacking all three. That's where the work lies.

What fits with this in our own machine?

Two design decisions that had already been made prior to this project:

  • Open Parameterization. The operator can adjust process parameters instead of being tied to fixed parameter sets. This is a necessary condition for qualifying a new powder: if you can't adjust the parameters, you can't work with another material.
  • No Captive Powder. We don't force you to buy the consumable from us. A machine that only works with the manufacturer's powder makes the customer hostage and completely negates any advantage that might come from a better or cheaper material.

And why is this being told?

The CDTI is the public entity that promotes innovation and technological development in Spanish companies; its support within MISIONES sustains this approach. We want to highlight this for a specific reason: the conversation about additive manufacturing almost always focuses on the machine, when in fact half the decisions that determine whether a project succeeds are made regarding the material.

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What can be reused and what needs to be disposed of, in reuse and disposal of metal powder. How to handle it without inhaling it, in GARBI. And the powder we work with, in SamyPowder.

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