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WO-2026096191-A1 - PARTICLE COMPOSITIONS AND METHODS OF PREPARING AND USING PARTICLE COMPOSITIONS

WO2026096191A1WO 2026096191 A1WO2026096191 A1WO 2026096191A1WO-2026096191-A1

Abstract

Described are nickel particle compositions that contain nickel particles that have a branch-like irregular morphogy, dispersant, and binder, and that are useful as a feedstock composition in additive manufacturing methods; methods for preparing the particle compositions; and methods of using the particle compositions as feedstock to form a porous shaped metal body by an additive manufacturing method.

Inventors

  • GUDDATI, SUBHASH
  • DION, DEVON
  • ZHANG, SU XIA
  • LIEW, Yan Han
  • GOO, Yu Xuan

Assignees

  • ENTEGRIS, INC.
  • AGENCY FOR SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND RESEARCH

Dates

Publication Date
20260507
Application Date
20251014
Priority Date
20241029

Claims (17)

  1. 1. A method of preparing a nickel powder composition, the method comprising: obtaining a nickel powder ingredient comprising individual nickel particles having a mean (D50) particle size of less than 20 microns, the individual nickel particles being bonded together as aggregate nickel particles having irregular morphology and a mean aggregate nickel particle size, processing the nickel powder ingredient by milling to produce a milled nickel powder comprising aggregate nickel particles having an irregular morphology and a reduced mean aggregate nickel particle size compared to the mean aggregate nickel particle size of the nickel powder ingredient, and combining the milled nickel powder with dispersant and binder to form the nickel powder composition.
  2. 2. The method of claim 1, comprising forming a slurry that comprises the milled nickel powder, dispersant, and binder, and wet milling the slurry.
  3. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the slurry comprises: from 0.5 to 1 weight percent dispersant, and from 3 to 13 weight percent binder, based on total weight milled nickel powder.
  4. 4. The method of claim 3, comprising wet milling the slurry to effect a mean (D50) aggregate nickel particle size in the slurry to a mean aggregate nickel particle size in a range from 20 to 100 microns.
  5. 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the dispersant comprises an ionic dispersant, a steric dispersant, or a hydrophilic dispersant.
  6. 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the binder comprises polyethylene glycol or polyvinylpyrrolidone. Attorney Docket No. JE0001020 WO
  7. 7. The method of claim 4, comprising, after wet milling, drying the slurry to form a dried powder composition, milling the dried powder composition, and passing the milled dried powder composition through a sieve.
  8. 8. The method of claim 7, the nickel composition having a basic flow energy of 180.0 ± 11.4 mJ and a flow rate index that is a positive value in range of 1.90 ± 0.12.
  9. 9. A feedstock composition useful in an additive manufacturing process, the feedstock composition comprising: aggregate nickel particles comprising individual nickel particles having a mean (D50) particle size of less than 20 microns, dispersant, and binder.
  10. 10. The feedstock of claim 9, the aggregate nickel particles having a mean (D50) aggregate nickel particle size in a range from 20 to 100 microns.
  11. 11. The feedstock of claim 9, wherein the dispersant comprises an ionic dispersant, a steric dispersant, or a hydrophilic dispersant.
  12. 12. The feedstock of claim 9, wherein the binder comprises polyethylene glycol or polyvinylpyrrolidone.
  13. 13. The feedstock of claim 9. having a basic flow energy of 180.0 ± 11.4 mJ and a flow rate index that is a positive value in range of 1.90 + 0.12.
  14. 14. A method of forming a porous sintered body by additive manufacturing, the method comprising: providing feedstock according to claim 9, forming a layer of the feedstock on a surface; Attorney Docket No. JE0001020 WO selectively applying liquid polymeric binder to areas of the layer of feedstock, solidifying the liquid polymeric binder to form solidified feedstock, forming a second layer of the feedstock over the layer that contains the solidified feedstock, selectively applying liquid polymeric binder to areas of the second layer of feedstock, and solidifying the liquid polymeric binder applied to the second layer to form solidified feedstock.
  15. 15. The method of claim 14, comprising forming a multi-layer composite comprising the solidified feedstock.
  16. 16. The method of claim 15, comprising sintering the multi-layer composite to form a porous sintered body.
  17. 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the porous sintered body has a porosity in a range from 55 to 70 percent.

Description

Attorney Docket No. JE0001020 WO PARTICLE COMPOSITIONS AND METHODS OF PREPARING AND USING PARTICLE COMPOSITIONS CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION [001] This application claims the benefit of and priority to United States Provisional Application No. 63/713,151 filed on October 29, 2024, the contents of which are incorporated herein FIELD [002] Described are nickel particle compositions that contain nickel particles that have a branch-like irregular morphogy, dispersant, and binder, and that are useful as a feedstock composition in additive manufacturing methods; methods for preparing the particle compositions; and methods of using the particle compositions as feedstock to form a porous shaped metal body by an additive manufacturing method. BACKGROUND [003] Additive manufacturing processes are known to be useful for forming shaped, three- dimensional bodies from polymeric or inorganic (e.g., metal) materials. As one example, additive manufacturing techniques have been studied for forming porous sintered metal bodies that are useful as filter membranes for filtering fluid materials used in the electronics and semiconductor manufacturing industries. Porous metal filter membranes may be used as in-line filters to remove particulate impurities from a fluid to prevent the particles from being introduced into a manufacturing process. The fluid may be a gas or a liquid. SUMMARY [004] Described as follows are nickel particle compositions (also referred to herein as “nickel powder compositions”) that contain aggregate nickel particles made of multiple, e.g., several or many, individual nickel particles of relatively small size (e.g., a nickel particle size of less than 20 or less than 10 microns). The nickel particle compositions contain the aggregate nickel particles in combination with dispersant, and binder, and are useful as feedstock compositions in additive manufacturing processes, particularly binder jet printing processes. As explained herein, the dispersant and binder can be included in a nickel particle composition to improve flow (e.g., Attorney Docket No. JE0001020 WO rheology) and spreading properties of the nickel particle composition, which can allow the nickel particle composition to be used in binder jet printing processes. [005] Also described are processes for preparing the nickel particle compositions, processes of using the nickel particle compositions as feedstock for forming a porous metal (nickel) body by an additive manufacturing method such as binder jet printing techniques, and porous metal (nickel) bodies prepared by these processes. [006] Porous metal filters that are made from nickel provide advantages in various filtration applications because of their high corrosion resistance, high temperature tolerance, and high mechanical strength, and have proven to be an effective and practical alternative to other filtration and separation processes. [007] Additive manufacturing techniques are useful for preparing three-dimensional metal bodies and are capable of doing so in a generally rapid and efficient manner without the use of a mold or molding or injection equipment. One example of an additive manufacturing technique, known as “binder jet printing,” involves steps of sequentially forming thin, individual layers of a multi-layer three-dimensional body from powder feedstock that is held together by applying binder to the powder feedstock. Using multiple steps, individual layers of solidified feedstock are formed sequentially into a multi-layer composite, each layer being formed separately and in sequence. Steps of forming each individual layer involve forming a feedstock layer on a surface, adding liquid binder to a portion of the feedstock layer, and allowing or causing the liquid binder to solidify. The portion of the feedstock layer that includes the solidified binder becomes a layer of the final three-dimensional printed body. [008] Importantly, each individual feedstock layer must be formed as a thin layer of the feedstock that has a uniform thickness across the entire area of the layer, and a uniform distribution of particles across the area of the layer. A feedstock layer is formed on a flat surface by spreading (e.g.. rolling) an amount of feedstock composition over the surface. The feedstock composition must be capable of being evenly and smoothly spread over the surface to form each feedstock layer, without the feedstock layer containing inconsistent distribution of particles within the layer or having a non-uniform thickness across the layer. Furthermore, each individual feedstock layer must be compacted, layer-by-layer, for the binder to properly adhere where applied between feedstock layers, to ensure a three-dimensional printed body is produced without having cracks and with a smooth surface finish and acceptable strength. Uniform Attorney Docket No. JE0001020 WO feedstock layers that contain evenly distributed and evenly-compacted particles, and are of a uniform thick