Investigation and Evaluation of Metal Powder Characterization Techniques : Currently available at the KTH Department of Material Science and Engineering

Sammanfattning: The KTH Department of Materials Science and Engineering has lacked powder metallurgy research for many years, and as this field is constantly gaining in importance, such research needs to be reestablished. This requires the department to be able to accurately and efficiently characterize the properties of a powder, such as size distribution and composition, and in the short term, this needs to be done using non-specialized equipment. This project aimed to assess the availability and usefulness of both traditional and novel characterization methods by way of trial characterization experiments as well as a literature review.   The experiments resulted in some data about three sample powders, as well as the conclusions that size distribution could be effectively characterized by automatized image analysis, composition could be characterized using Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy and that sample preparation was key to good results. It was concluded that the department could conceivably evaluate the most important properties, but that sampling and sample preparation routines need to be established to ensure efficient characterization and representative data.