Absorbance study of powder conditions for laser additive manufacturing

Absorbance is often used for simulations or validation of process parameters for powder-based laser materials processing. In this work, the absorbance of 39 metal powders for additive manufacturing is determined at 20 laser wavelengths. Different grain sizes and aging states for: steels, aluminum alloys, titanium alloys, Nitinol, high entropy alloy, chromium, copper, brass and iron ore were analyzed. For this purpose, the absorbance spectrum of the powders was determined via a dual-beam spectrometer in the range of λ = 330 - 1560 nm. At the laser wavelengths of λ = 450 nm, 633 nm and 650 nm, the absorbance averaged over all materials was found to increase by a factor of 2.4 up to 3.3 compared to the usual wavelength of λ = 1070 nm, with minimal variations in absorbance between materials. In the investigation of the aged or used powders, a loss of absorbance was detectable. Almost no changes from the point of view of processing aged and new AlSi10Mg powders, is expected for laser sources with λ = 450 nm. The resulting measurements provide a good basis for process parameters for a variety of laser wavelengths and materials, as well as a data set for improved absorbance simulations.