Characteristics of Powders from Different Aluminum Alloys for Additive Technologies Obtained by Gas Atomization

Selective laser melting (SLM) is one of the additive manufacturing technologies that allows us to produce complex shape metallic objects from powder feedstock. Al-alloys are very promising materials in selective laser melting. In this paper, atomized metal powders of various aluminum alloys are investigated: 1) deformable alloys АК4, АК6; 2) cast alloys АК9ph, АК12; 3) deformable hardened alloy D16. As a part of the work, the particle shape, particle size distribution and technical characteristics of the powders were investigated, and also the compliance of materials with the requirements of additive technologies (SLM) was determined.