Turbex’s approach to depowdering

We’ve teamed up with Solukon Maschinenbau to bring its innovative Smart Powder Recuperation technology SPR® to our UK customers.

Solukon’s cleaning solutions meet the highest functionality and safety standards that the industry demands. Their depowdering solutions are trusted by leading manufacturers and service providers such as NASA, Siemens and ArianeGroup, and are approved for safe and reliable removal of tough-to-handle and reactive materials, including titanium and aluminium.

What is depowdering?

In the additive manufacturing industry, metal parts accrue excess powder which requires specialist equipment to remove it. Depowdering is a weak link in the metal AM process. The issues faced by users include the risk of explosion, occupational health, labour costs, powder recovery, cleaning quality and process repeatability. A backdrop to these operational issues is a growing trend towards regulation and standardisation, which pushes manufacturers to think more carefully about their manufacturing processes, both at the level of requirements for the part itself, such as cleanliness and process repeatability, and at the level of the manufacturing facility in general. 

The Solukon automated de-powdering solution, with highly efficient vibration and unlimited freedom of motion, have had a major impact on innovation as it assures a gentle and time-saving de-powdering with reproducible cleaning results. Current powder removal processes are typically manual. On the surface, manual cleaning does not appear to require much knowhow and can be performed by using blowing or brushing. The truth is that manual cleaning very often is unable to remove stubborn powder consistently and reliably. Automated and secure depowdering of metal laser-melted parts can help. 

Our specialist equipment ensures the removal of trapped powder, reclaiming it without contamination in a repeatable, certifiable way.

Depowdering machines