Microplasma Generation of Iron Microparticles for 3-D Manufacturing

Three-D metal selective laser sintering is a relatively new but growing field of microfabrication. Iron used in alloys commonly starts as micropellet feedstock made with spray atomization; however, this process is power intensive and less economical than the microplasma generation. In this letter, iron nitrate is used to produce iron microparticles in an aqueous-based microplasma process to form metal microparticles that can be used in additive manufacturing. We show that it is possible to form particles on the order of micrometers. The plasma process was successfully used to make iron microparticles that would work in the selective laser sintering process and can be used for any metal solution. The fabricated particles are investigated for size, size distribution, shape, and composition.