Currently, metallic powders for laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) primarily come in two commercially available powder size distributions (PSDs): 15+/45− for non-reactive powders and 15+/63− for reactive powders. These powders are generally produced via gas atomization processes that create highly spherical particles with a Gaussian PSD. Because of the standard deviation within a Gaussian distribution, only small portions of the total product are used for LPBF applications. This screening process makes the other particle sizes a waste product and, thus, increases processing costs. The non-reactive 718 powder was printed with both the typical PSD of 15+/45− and a wider bimodal experimental PSD. Compared to conventional 718, the 718 alloys with bimodal PSD shows less than a 0.2% difference in density, and insignificant change in mechanical behavior. Electron backscattered diffraction studies revealed that grain sizes and morphology were similar between the two sample sets, but bimodal 718 alloy has a slightly greater degree of large grains. The study suggests that particles with wide or bimodal size distributions show promise in producing equivalent high-quality products without sacrificing mechanical properties.
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