Solid-state processing of surplus aluminium alloy powders through a combination of field-assisted sintering technology and hot rolling

Metal additive manufacturing techniques typically operate using powders with limited particle size ranges, but atomisation processes produce significant amounts of particles outside these ranges, resulting in an accumulation of out-of-size specification metal powders without a clear use case. Field-assisted sintering technology (FAST) can provide an alternative, solid-state processing route to consolidate these powders into billets for subsequent processing, or directly into near-net shape components. In this study, surplus powders of A20X, an aerospace approved aluminium alloy developed by Aluminium Materials Technologies (ECKART GmbH), were processed using FAST and subsequently hot rolled to produce sheet material. Tensile properties were similar to hot rolled conventional cast material and comparable to additively manufactured product. This indicates that FAST is an effective option for converting surplus metal powders into useful products, while improving sustainability in the additive supply chain.