SLM Production Systems: Recent Developments in Process Development, Machine Concepts and Component Design

Abstract

The emerging Additive Manufacturing (AM) and especially the Selective Laser Melting (SLM) technologies provide great potential for solving the dilemma between scale and scope, i.e. manufacturing products at mass production costs with a maximum fit to customer needs or functional requirements. Due to technology intrinsic advantages like one-piece-flow capability and almost infinite freedom of design, Additive Manufacturing was recently even described as "the manufacturing technology that will change the world". Due to the complex nature of production systems, the technological potential of AM and especially SLM can only be realised by a holistic comprehension of the complete value creation chain, especially the interdependency between products and production processes. Therefore this paper aims to give an overview regarding recent research in machine concepts and process development as well as component design which has been carried out within the cluster of excellence "Integrative production technology for high wage countries".

Increasing the productivity of laser powder bed fusion: Influence of the hull-bulk strategy on part quality, microstructure and mechanical performance of Ti-6Al-4V

“…The trade-off between part quality and productivity remains one of the major obstacles to a wider industrialization of the LPBF process. To address this issue, various approaches have been developed and implemented, such as increasing the machine's build volume to reduce operating time, or using multiple laser beam sources and multiple laserscanning systems in one machine ("twin-laser" or "quad-laser" [4]) so that the build area can either be multiplied or that one build space can be processed by several lasers and scanningsystems at the same time [5]. However, these approaches involve significant research and development and typically lead to more expensive LPBF machines.…”

Effects of Positioning Conditions on Material Properties In Powder bed Fusion Additive Manufacturing

“…In particular, Powder Bed Fusion additive manufacturing technologies, which includes selective laser melting (SLM) and electron beam melting, are used to manufacture prototypes and small series of metallic complex parts [2]. In the SLM process a wide range of materials is available for many applications and novel materials can be developed for speci c applications [3]. SLM technique comprised many advantages such as complexshaped, light weighted and custom-made part manufacturing; nevertheless, some issues like hot cracks, residual stresses, porosities and lack-of-fusion defects can be present in SLM parts [4].…”

Functional Modeling in the Design of Additively Manufactured Components

“…Complexity in this context is a measure of the amount of functional elements in one part. Designers should therefore focus on functional requirements and lightweight structures, and achieve these by increasing the complexity of the components (Klahn and Mebolt, 2018;Poprawe et al, 2015). One such process is Laser Beam Melting (LBM), an AM process for the production of metal components that is used in serial production (Wohlers, 2017).…”