A Study on Pore Properties of SUS316L Powder Porous Metal Fabricated by Electrostatic Powder Coating Process

Porous metals demonstrate not only excessively low densities, but also novel physical, thermal, mechanical, electrical, and acoustic properties. Thus, porous metals exhibit exceptional performance, which are useful for diesel particulate filters, heat exchangers, and noise absorbers. In this study, SUS316L foam with 90% porosity and $3,000{\mu}m$ pore size is successfully manufactured using the electrostatic powder coating (ESPC) process. The mean size of SUS316L powders is approximately $12.33{\mu}m$. The pore properties are evaluated using SEM and Archimedes. As the quantity of powder coating increases, pore size decreases from 2,881 to $1,356{\mu}m$. Moreover, the strut thickness and apparent density increase from 423.7 to $898.3{\mu}m$ and from 0.278 to $0.840g/cm^3$, respectively. It demonstrates that pore properties of SUS316L powder porous metal are controllable by template type and quantity of powder coating.

정전분체코팅 공정으로 제조된 SUS316L 분말 다공체의 기공 특성에 관한 연구