Effect Of Electrolyte Concentration and Discharge Frequency on Ti-6Al-4V Powder Particle Size Distribution Obtained by ECDM
Abstract
This study investigates the distribution of Ti-6Al-4V alloy powder microparticles used in 3D printing under different discharge frequencies and NaCl electrolyte concentrations. This work analyzed the process of obtaining monodisperse Ti-6Al-4V alloy powders using the ECDM method. The results showed that an optimal NaCl electrolyte concentration of 30 g/L ensures stable plasma channel formation and a narrow particle size distribution. Regression analysis and low standard error values (0.00386–0.00834) confirm the process's high controllability. The effect of frequency on particle size was also investigated: at 3.2 kHz, the minimum average particle size of 16.598 µm was recorded, whereas increasing the frequency to 32 kHz increased particle size to 28.063 µm due to thermal accumulation. The results indicate that at both 3.2 kHz and 32 kHz frequencies, 58.24% to 68.89% of the produced powders fall within the 15–55 µm range required for PBF-LB/M technology. These findings demonstrate the suitability of the obtained powders for additive manufacturing technologies.
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