Automation of the single-track study for L-PBF additive manufacturing processes (for AlSi10Mg powder)

Abstract

When using a new powder material in each individual selective laser melting unit, the process engineer has to conduct process development works (PDW) to find the optimal combination of process parameters. The results of the PDW are analysed manually by the process engineer without the use of process decision support tools. Due to the expanding technological capabilities of the equipment and the available range of material properties, the possible set of parameters is also expanding, complicating the already non-trivial process of searching for printing process parameters. In order to reduce the PDW time, in this paper we proposed a rapid analysis tool to select individual experimental results with single welded tracks of AlSi10Mg powder. The process of conducting the experiment on domestic equipment was reviewed and the efficiency of the automation tool was investigated in comparison with the traditional manual selection approach. It is concluded that it is possible to apply the developed tool for materials and installations of additive manufacturing not considered in the study.