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For metal additive manufacturing, metallic powders are usually produced by vacuum induction gas atomization (VIGA) through the breakup of liquid metal into tiny droplets by gas jets. VIGA is considered a cost-effective technique to prepare feedstock. In VIGA, the quality and the morphology of the produced particles are mainly controlled by the gas pressure used during powder production, keeping the setup configuration constant.

In VIGA process for metallic additive manufacturing feedstock preparation, the quality and morphology of the powder particles are mainly controlled by the gas pressure used during powder production.

In this study, Inconel-625 feedstock was produced using a supersonic nozzle in a close-coupled gas atomization apparatus. Powder size distribution (PSD) was studied by varying the gas pressure.

The nonmonotonic but deterministic relationships were observed between gas pressure and PSD. It was found that the maximum 15–45 µm percentage PSD, equivalent to 84%, was achieved at 29 bar Argon gas pressure, which is suitable for the LPBF process. Following on, the produced powder particles were used to print tensile test specimens via LPBF along XY- and ZX-orientations by using laser power = 475 W, laser scanning speed = 800 mm/s, powder layer thickness = 50 µm and hatch distance = 100 µm. The yield and tensile strengths were 9.45% and 13% higher than the ZX direction, while the samples printed in ZX direction resulted in 26.79% more elongation compared to XY-orientation.

Powder lubrication is widely used in industrial production, but most of the research that analyze the wear process and speculate on the wear mechanism of the tested specimens lacks reliability, and it is difficult to reveal the essence of the friction and wear process. The purpose of this paper is using the optical in situ observation method to observe the condition of the powder lubrication layer in real time and dynamically, and directly obtain the morphology change of the specimen during the whole wear process, which is helpful to the establishment of new tribological basic theories such as friction and wear mechanism and lubrication theory.

Mechanical model of powder lubrication is established considering asperity and powder layer, and the influence of adhesion effect on load and friction force is analyzed. The finite difference method is used to solve the above physical model, and the influence of the adhesion effect on load and friction force is analyzed. The total load and friction of the friction pair are composed of two parts: fluid and asperity. Based on the optical in situ observation method to build a test platform. The interface of the adhesion stage was observed by SEM.

When the film thickness ratio is less than 1, the local damage and diffusion of the powder layer are basically completed and the adhesion stage is entered. At this time, the asperity is not fully loaded, the powder layer is loaded by 50%, the asperity is less loaded, the deformation is small and the possibility of plastic flow is reduced. However, in the adhesion stage, the friction force is basically generated between asperity, and the friction force ratio of the asperity is 80%. Heavy load and surface roughness of the specimen are the necessary conditions for the powder adhesion period.

In this paper, the failure process of the powder layer at the friction interface with different roughness and load is studied based on the optical in situ observation method. Second, the contact surface with the micro-convex body and powder layer is simulated, and the influence of adhesion effect on the mechanical properties of the real contact surface in the process of powder lubrication is analyzed, thus providing theoretical guidance for mechanical processing, workpiece operation and lubrication design.

Mechanical model considering asperities and powder layer powder lubrication was established to analyze the influence of the adhesion effect on load and friction. Based on the optical in situ observation method to build a test platform. The tests found that the failure process of the powder lubricating layer includes five stages: powder complete stage, local failure stage, local failure diffusion stage, powder adhesion stage and complete failure stage.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-11-2022-0322/

The aim of this study was to produce an enriched honey powder with active compounds coming from bee pollen and investigate the effects of bee pollen addition as a carrier material on honey powder.

The effects of bee pollen addition as carrier material in corporation with gum arabic at different ratios (25, 50 and 75% of total carrier material amount) on vacuum-dried honey-bee pollen powder were investigated.

The bee pollen concentration raise in the mixture increased the particle size, total phenolic, flavonoid and sugar contents and antioxidant activity, whereas decreased the Hauser ratio and Carr index values, hygroscopicity and solubility of enriched honey powder samples. The honey powder samples had passable and poor flow properties and very hygroscopic (>20%) structure because of the high sugar content. The phenolic and flavonoid contents of honey powder samples with bee pollen changed between 1531.59 and 3796.00 mg GAE/kg and 424.05–1203.10 mg QE/kg, respectively, and these values were much higher than the control sample. On the basis of linear correlation analysis, there was a very high positive correlation between total phenolic, flavonoid and antioxidant activity, while there was a very high negative correlation between these parameters and solubility.

The study evaluated that enriching of honey powders with pollen, which is a product of both plant and bee origin, rather than enriching with different plant and animal sources has an innovative approach. Additionally, the usage of bee pollen as a carrier agent in food drying has not been previously reported in any study.

This paper aims to develop flame-retardant (FR) polyamide 12 (PA12) nanocomposite from regenerated powder via selective laser sintering (SLS), an additive manufacturing technique.

First, the morphology, processibility, thermal and mechanical properties of PA12 regenerated powder, consisting of 50 wt% new and 50 wt% recycled powder, as well as corresponding printed specimens, were evaluated to characterize the effects of previous SLS processing. Second, flame-retardant PA12 was developed by incorporating both single and binary halogen-free flame retardants into the regenerated powder.

It was found that the printed specimens from regenerated powder had much higher tensile and impact properties compared to specimens made from new powder, which is attributed to better particulate fusion and coalescence realized in higher temperature SLS printing. The effect of FRs on thermal, mechanical and flame retardant properties of the PA12 composites/nanocomposites was investigated systematically. It was found that the nanoclay, as a synergist, improved both flame-retardant and mechanical properties of PA12. UL94 standard rating of V-0 was achieved for the printed nanocomposite by incorporating 1 wt% nanoclay into 15 wt% phosphinates FR. Moreover, on average, the tensile and impact strength of the nanocomposite were increased by 26.13% and 17.09%, respectively, in XY, YZ and Z printing orientations as compared to the equivalent flame retardant composite with 20 wt% of the phosphinates FR.

This paper fulfills the need to develop flame retardant parts via SLS technology with waste feedstock. It also addresses the challenge of developing flame retardant materials without obviously compromising the mechanical properties by making use of the synergistic effect of nanoclay and organic phosphinates.

In binder jetting, the interaction between the liquid binder droplets and the powder particles defines the shape of the printed primitives. The purpose of this study is to explore the interaction of the relative size of powder particles and binder droplets and the subsequent effects on macro-scale part properties.

The effects of different particle size distribution (5–25 µm and 15–45 µm) of stainless steel 316 L powders and droplet sizes (10 and 30 pL) on part density, shrinkage, mechanical strength, pore morphology and distribution are investigated. Experimental samples were fabricated in two different layer thicknesses (50 and 100 µm).

While 15–45 µm samples demonstrated higher green density (53.10 ± 0.25%) than 5–25 µm samples (50.31 ± 1.06%), higher sintered densities were achieved in 5–25 µm samples (70.60 ± 6.18%) compared to 15–45 µm samples (65.23 ± 3.24%). Samples of 5–25 µm also demonstrated superior ultimate tensile strength (94.66 ± 25.92 MPa) compared to 15–45 µm samples (39.34 ± 7.33 MPa). Droplet size effects were found to be negligible on both green and sintered densities; however, specimens printed with 10-pL droplets had higher ultimate tensile strength (79.70 ± 42.31 MPa) compared to those made from 30-pL droplets (54.29 ± 23.35 MPa).

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper details the first report of the combined effects of different particle size distribution with different binder droplet sizes on the part macro-scale properties. The results can inform appropriate process parameters to achieve desired final part properties.

This study aims to describe the effects of capillary forces or action, viscosity, gravity and inertia via the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis. The study also includes distribution of the binder droplet over the powder bed after interacting from different heights.

Additive manufacturing (AM) has revolutionized many industries. Binder jetting (BJT) is a powder-based AM method that enables the production of complex components for a wide range of applications. The pre-densification interaction of binder and powder is vital among various parameters that can affect the BJT performance. In this study, BJT process is studied for the binder interaction with the powder bed of SS316L. The effect of the droplet-powder distance is thoroughly analysed. Two different droplet heights are considered, namely, h1 (zero) and h2 (9.89 mm).

The capillary and inertial effects are predominant, as the distance affects these parameters significantly. The binder spreading and penetration depth onto the powder bed is influenced directly by the distance of the binder droplet. The former increases with an increase in latter. The binder distribution over the powder bed, whether uniform or not, is studied by the stream traces. The penetration depth of the binder was also observed along the cross-section of the powder bed through the same.

In this work, the authors have developed a more accurate representative discrete element method of the powder bed and CFD analysis of binder droplet spreading and penetration inside the powder bed using Flow-3D. Moreover, the importance of the splashing due to the binder’s droplet height is observed. If splashing occurs, it will produce distortion in the powder, resulting in a void in the final part.

Drynamels Ltd., a T.I. company and specialist in the manufacture of coatings for metal surfaces, has recently concluded an agreement for the exclusive rights in the U.K. for the Oxyplast range of epoxy powders developed by Libert Freres, of Ghent, Belgium. In this article the technical director of Drynamels describes the step forward in powder coating technology represented by this development.

Marketing Management.

BBA Students of Marketing Management.

The brand ⇓Dentonic” by Ala Chemicals was originally launched as a tooth powder meant for the middle and lower socioeconomic classes. The tooth powder was a hugely successful product. Dentonic tooth powder held the highest market share in the category at 80 per cent in the 1990s. However, the tooth powder market in the urban areas is declining and consumer preference is slowly moving to toothpastes. Although tooth powder is still used in the rural areas, some toothpaste manufacturers have extended their reach at the lower end of the market offering consumers “value propositions” in the shape of toothpaste at the comparable price of tooth powder. The market for dental cleaning products has seen a shift in terms of young consumers switching from powder to the lower-priced toothpaste brands. The company Ala Chemicals did not want to sit back and face a declining tooth powder market. Therefore, they launched a premium quality toothpaste by the same brand name, Dentonic, and made efforts to penetrate the premium segment of toothpaste. However, the marketing strategies did not have the desired effect and the company was unable to get consumers to accept Dentonic as a premium toothpaste. Although Ala Chemicals indulged in promotional spending, using social media, offering a high-quality product and making it accessible with competitive prices, somehow they were unable to create the required pull.

This study provides an example of how “over positioning” of a brand can be an impediment in the case of a brand extension, especially when a lower end brand is positioned as a premium brand. It is also meant to show that the product concept alone cannot lead to marketing success and consumer acceptance. It also exposes students to the requirement of creating a Unique Value Proposition in a brand and the difficulties of pursuing a segment invasion, without considering the entry barriers, and the marketing strategies/positions of competitors.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

Reports that measurable amounts of polymer degradation occur during the fabrication of objects from polymer coated ceramic powders by selective laser sintering (SLS). Argues that because the binder is important in achieving strong green parts that can be handled with minimal breakage during post‐processing operations, it is essential to minimize the extent of binder losses. As the first step towards understanding the mechanisms of binder degradation, this paper presents a thermal model of the physical system, noting that the agreement between theory and experiment are good. The model is used to help determine the most influential parameters affecting binder losses during fabrication from polymer coated powders. Predicts that adjustments to laser beam diameter, laser scanning distance and gaseous environment will strongly affect polymer binder degradation during processing. Further predicts correctly that polymer degradation during SLS processing is not sensitive to the inherent degradation kinetics of the polymer.

This study aims to demonstrate for the first time that the cheap, commodity polymer, poly(propylene), can be successfully processed using high speed sintering, and that it can be recycled several times through the process, with little to no detriment to either the polymer itself or the parts obtained. This is significant as a step towards the realisation of high speed sintering as a technology for high-volume manufacturing.

A poly(propylene) powder designed for laser sintering was used to build parts on a high speed sintering machine. The unsintered powder was then collected and reused. Repeating this process allowed creation of seven generations of aged powder. A variety of characterisation techniques were then used to measure polymer, powder and part properties for each generation to discern any effects arising from ageing in the machine.

It was found that poly(propylene) could be used successfully in high speed sintering, albeit with a low build success rate. Increased powder age was found to correlate to an increase in the build success rate, changes in microscopic and bulk powder properties and improvement to the dimensional accuracy of the parts obtained. By contrast, no discernible correlations were seen between powder age and polymer molecular weight, or between powder age and the tensile properties of parts.

This is the first report of the use of poly(propylene) in high speed sintering. It is also first study regarding powder recyclability in high speed sintering, both in general and using poly(propylene) specifically.