Structure and properties of additive products manufactured from electroerosion powders

Abstract

The paper considers the possibility of using electroerosion metal powders based on the Co-Cr alloy with different properties in additive technologies. Use of these powders opens up great opportunities for improving the technical and economic characteristics of products, and will contribute to a significant increase in their reliability, durability, weight reduction, reduction of manufacture and operation costs. The economic efficiency of the use of electroerosion cobalt-chromium powders is due to the use of waste and low energy-intensive technology for their production. The aim of this work is studying the technology of powder fusion obtained by electroerosion dispersion of cobalt-chromium alloy waste in alcohol, on porosity, microhardness and roughness of additive products. The process of electrodispersion, i.e. grinding of the KKhMS "Cellite" alloy (63 % Co, 27 % Cr, 5 % Mo, 2 % Ni, 2 % Fe) was carried out on an original patented installation. After dispersion of cobalt-chromium alloy waste, its destruction occurred as a result of local exposure to short-term electrical discharges between the electrodes located in the working fluid, with formation of powder particles. Butyl alcohol was used as the working fluid. The fusion of electroerosion cobalt-chromium powders was carried out by plasma on the original installation for layer-by-layer deposition, which allows varying the technological parameters of the process: the nozzle transition speed (mm/min), the distance between the nozzle and the construction zone (mm), and the fusion temperature (°C). Based on a set of experimental studies, it was found that the melting temperature of particles of electroerosion cobalt-chromium powder practically does not effect on varying in the elemental and phase composition of samples; at the same time, with an increase of the melting temperature, the pores size and their number decrease, as well as an increase of microhardness with decrease of the height of irregularities and roughness in general are observed.