Contribution of cellulosic fibre filter on atmosphere moisture content in laser powder bed fusion additive manufacturing

A Das; J A Muñiz-Lerma; E R L Espiritu; A Nommeots-Nomm; K Waters; M Brochu

doi:10.1038/s41598-019-50238-5

Contribution of cellulosic fibre filter on atmosphere moisture content in laser powder bed fusion additive manufacturing

Sci Rep. 2019 Sep 24;9(1):13794. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-50238-5.

Authors

A Das¹, J A Muñiz-Lerma¹, E R L Espiritu¹, A Nommeots-Nomm¹, K Waters¹, M Brochu²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mining and Materials Engineering, McGill University, 3610 University Street, Wong Building, Montreal, QC, H3A 0C5, Canada.
² Department of Mining and Materials Engineering, McGill University, 3610 University Street, Wong Building, Montreal, QC, H3A 0C5, Canada. mathieu.brochu@mcgill.ca.

Abstract

Cellulosic materials are commonly used to manufacture the particulate filters used in laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) additive manufacturing (AM) equipment. An experimental approach has been used to calculate the moisture quantity and kinetics of sorption in a cellulosic filter at varying relative humidity (RH) levels. A prediction of the amount of moisture which can be theoretically held within a filter during storage before its use has been obtained. Subsequently, the quantity and the rate of moisture desorption which can be transferred into the build chamber during LPBF is presented. This work highlights the importance of filter storage and conditioning prior to use in additive manufacturing processing.