Purpose

This paper aims to gain an understanding of the behaviour of iron ore when melted by a laser beam in a continuous manner. This fundamental knowledge is essential to further develop additive manufacturing routes such as production of low cost parts and in-situ reduction of the ore during processing.

Design/methodology/approach

Blown powder directed energy deposition was used as the processing method. The process was observed through high-speed imaging, and computed tomography was used to analyse the specimens.

Findings

The experimental trials give preliminary results showing potential for the processability of iron ore for additive manufacturing. A large and stable melt pool is formed in spite of the inhomogeneous material used. Single and multilayer tracks could be deposited. Although smooth and even on the surface, the single layer tracks displayed porosity. In case of multilayered tracks, delamination from the substrate material and deformation can be seen. High-speed videos of the process reveal various process phenomena such as melting of ore powder during feeding, cloud formation, melt pool size, melt flow and spatter formation.

Originality/value

Very little literature is available that studies the possible use of ore in additive manufacturing. Although the process studied here is not industrially useable as is, it is a step towards processing cheap unprocessed material with a laser beam.

中文翻译：

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从矿山到零件：铁矿石的定向能量沉积

目的

本文旨在了解铁矿石在被激光束以连续方式熔化时的行为。这些基础知识对于进一步开发增材制造路线至关重要，例如生产低成本零件和在加工过程中原位还原矿石。

设计/方法/方法

使用吹制粉末定向能量沉积作为加工方法。通过高速成像观察该过程，并使用计算机断层扫描对标本进行分析。

发现

实验试验给出了初步结果，显示了铁矿石可加工性用于增材制造的潜力。尽管使用了不均匀的材料，但仍会形成一个大而稳定的熔池。可以沉积单道和多层道。尽管表面光滑且均匀，但单层轨道显示出孔隙率。在多层轨道的情况下，可以看到与基板材料的分层和变形。该过程的高速视频揭示了各种过程现象，例如进料过程中矿粉的熔化、云的形成、熔池大小、熔体流动和飞溅的形成。

原创性/价值

很少有文献研究矿石在增材制造中的可能用途。虽然这里研究的过程不能按原样用于工业，但它是朝着用激光束加工廉价的未加工材料迈出的一步。