Module 6

POST-PROCESSING
Introduction
• AM processes required post-processing after the part building to prepare the part for
its intended form, fit and/or function
• Post-processing technique will vary with the AM technique
• Post-processing techniques which are used to enhance components or overcome AM
limitations
1. Support material removal
2. Surface texture improvement
3. Accuracy improvement
4. Aesthetic improvements
5. Preparation for use as a pattren
6. Property enhancement using non-thermal & thermal techniques
Support Material in various AM processes

SLM FDM BJ

PBF DED
Support Material Removal
• Support material removal can be broadly classified into two cateogries
1. Material which surrounds the part as a naturally occuring by-product of the build
process (natural supports)
2. Rigid structures which are designed and built to support, restrain, or attach the part
being built to build a platform (synthetic supports)

PBF SL process
Natural Support Post-processing
• It is the process where the part being built is fully encapsulated in the build material,
part must be removed from the sourrounding material prior to its use
• These are mainly
• Powder based-BJ, PBF
• Sheet based- LOM
• In polymer PBF, after the part being build, the part to go through a cool-down stage to
avoid part distortion due to non-uniform cooling
• It depends on the type of build material and size of the part
Natural Support Post-processing
• Brushes, compressed air, and light bead blasting are commonly used to remove the
adhered powders.
• Wood-working and dental tools are used to remove powders which are sintered to the
surface or powder entrapped in small channels or features
• Internal hollow spaces can be difficult to clean and may require significant post-
processing

Tools to be used to remove the support in 3d print component

Natural Support Post-processing
• Exception to the extended cool-down time, natural support removal technique for
binder jetting process are identical to those used in PBF
• In most of the cases, the parts produceed by the BJ are brittle out of the machine. So
proper infiltration techniques which can strengthen the material
• Most of the manufacturers are providing automated/semi-automated powder removal
setups in their AM machines

Figures describing the natural support post-processing in PBF

Natural Support Post-processing
• Sheet lamination process (LOM) also uses natural support material. But if the part
building involves complex geometries with overhanging, internal cavities, channels,
etc., in those situations, post-processing becomes tedious and time-consuming
• Some time it is required to split the entire component into sub-components and
assemble them

LOM
Synthetic Support Removal
• Processes which don’t naturally support parts require synthetic supports for overhanging
features
• In PBF also, some times synthetic supports are used to resist distortions especially in
metals
• Synthetic supports may be made of build material or support material
• Synthetic support material are designed to be either weak, soluble in liquid solution or
melt at lower temperature than build material

Support structure in SL process Support structure in FDM process

Synthetic Support Removal
• Orientation of part signifies the support structure requirement
• If part is thin and laid flat, then the amount of support material consumed may be
significantly exceed the amount of build material
• The orientation of the support also affects the surface finish of the part, as support removal
leaves “witness marks” (small bumps) where the supports are attached
• Use of supports in regions of small features may lead to features being broken when the
supports are removed

Thin flat component with support structure

Support made from the Build Material
• Material extrusion, Material Jetting, vat Photopolymerization processes require
supports for overhanging features and to connect the part to the build platforms
• The types of supports are also commonly referred to as break away supports
• The removal of these supports leaves witness marks on the surface. These surface may
require further sanding/polishing to improves its surface finish
Support made from the Build Material
• PBF and DED process for metals and ceramics also require support material
• The support structure which are strong enough cannot be removed manually. They
require milling, band-saws, cut off blades, wire-EDM to perform the post-finishing
operation of AM parts

Band saw Wire EDM machine

Support made from the Secondary Material
• Vat Photpolymerization, Material Extrusion and Material Jetting process use secondary
support material
• Use of wax support material enable the block of support/build to be placed in the warm
water bath, thus melting and dissolving the wax yields the final parts
• Polymer AM process which uses secondary polymer material are removed using water-
based solvents
• Water can be jetted or ultrasonically vibrated to accelerate teh support removal process
• For metals, most of the support material are lower-melting temperature alloys which can
be chemically dissolved in a solvent
Surface Texture Improvements
• Surface texture features that need to be modified for aesthetic or performance reasons
• Common undesirable texture features are
• Stair-steps in all AM process
• Powder adhesion in Material Jetting, PBF, power-based DED
• Fill pattrens from material extrusion or DED
• Witness marks removal
• The type of post-processing required depends on the surface finish requirements
• Bead-blasting
• Wet/dry sanding
• Polishing
• Painting

Bead blasting Dry sanding Polishing

Surface Texture Improvements
• Automated techniques can also be explored to improve the surface textures of AM features/pa
• Tumbling for external features
• Abrasive flow machining for internal features

Tumbling operation Abrasive flow finishing

Accuracy Improvements & Sources of Inaccuracy
• Some processes have capabilities to produce accuracies of submicron level whereas other
process have accuracies upto 1mm
• Large parts, and faster buid speed results in worst accuracies

• Process-dependent errors affect the accuracy on the X-Y plane differently from the Z-axis
accuracy.
• Accuracy improvement depends onthe real-time control strategies to monitor and control the
process, rather than on the skill of the operator.
• Material-dependent phenomenon like shrinkage and residual stress-induced distortion.
Repeatable shrinkage and distortions can be compensated by scaling the CAD model
• However, quantitive understanding of laser parameters on the shrinkag and residual stress
distortion help us to develop predictive models
• Parts which require high degree of accuracy, extra material must be added which can be
further removed via milling or other subtractive means.
Model pre-processing to compensate for inaccuracy
• The part accuracy, surface finish and build time depends on the position of the part within
the build chamber and the orientation
• Translation and rotation operations are applied to the original model to optimize the
position and orientation
• Shrinkage can be compensated by scaling on the CAD model and it uses scale factor which
is a function of average shrinkage the model/part undergo
• But some of the feature may shrink less or more than the average shrinkage
• Inorder to compensate the shrinkage, largest shrinkage value can be used but it result in
better results for ribs but not for the holes. So this solution is not acceptable
Model pre-processing to compensate for inaccuracy
• Inorder to make sure that there is enough material left on the surface to be machined, adding
skin to the original model is necessary
• Two primary methods that can be used to add skin to the surface of the part
• Offset the surfaces and then recalculate the surface intersection but has difficulties due to
linearzation of the model by triangles
• Offseting the individual vertices of a STL file by using normal vector information for the
connected triangles, and then reconstructing the triangles using new vertex values
𝑛
ഥ𝑖 𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑉𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑠𝑒𝑡 . 𝑁
𝑉𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑠𝑒𝑡 = ෍ 𝑊𝑖 𝑁 ഥ=1
𝑖=1

𝑃𝑛𝑒𝑤 = 𝑃𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 + 𝑉𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑠𝑒𝑡 ∗ 𝑑𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑠𝑒𝑡

doffset should be set equal to the largest shrinkage variation.

Machining strategy: Adaptive raster milling
• Raster machining is used for milling operations, step over distance between adjacaent
toolpath is a very important parameter that controls the machining accuracy and surface
quality
• Normally, cusp height of material left after the model is machined is used as a measurement
of the surface quality

2 Illustration for determining the stepover distance

𝑑 = 2.0 ℎ 2𝑟 − ℎ ഥ𝑇𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 . 𝑁
1− 𝑁 ഥ𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑝𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 (Emerald group pulbishing limited [3])
Finish machining using adaptive raster milling of copper-filled polyamide part made using polymer laser sintering (a) CAD model
(b) tool paths (c) machined part (Emerald group publishing limited, from “ Raster milling tool pathgeneration from STL file
Machining strategy: Sharp Edge contour machining
• Sharp edges are often the intersection curves between features and surfaces
• These edges define the critical dimensions

• For complicated edges not parallel to the milling directions, raster milling is ineffective
for creating smooth edges, as the edges will have a stair-step apperance, with the step
size equal to the local stepover distance, d
Machining strategy: Sharp Edge contour machining

• Using milling tools to create holes is inefficient and the circularity of the holes is poorer
• Machining strategy of identifying and drilling holes is preferable
• Identification of holes in STL file is challenging task
• A hole recognition algorithm is used to identify all the holes in the part
Aesthetic improvements
• Many times AM is used to make parts which will be displayed for aesthetic or artistic
reasons or used as marketing tools
• Aesthetics is solely related to surface finish
• So post-processing strategies can be used to improve the surface texture/finish
requirements
• Methods used to improve the surface aesthetics are
• Colorizing by dipping the part in the dye
• Painting (after filling the pores)
• Chrome plating
Preparation for use as a pattren: Investment casting pattrens
• The use of AM part in a casting process is the least expensive way to use AM to
produce metal part
• Special care must ensure the pattren accuracy and suface finish as it effect the casted
product accuracy
• Pattren must compensate the shrinkages, machining allowances, etc.
• Incase of investment casting, AM pattern will be consumed during the processing
• Any sealant used to improve AM part accuracy may left with unwanted residue during
processing
Preparation for use as a pattren: Investment casting pattrens
• AM parts can be printed on a casting tree or manually added to a casting tree after AM
• Example below uses AM parts made using material jetting technique
• Using Stereolithography Quickcast build style, the hollow, truss-filled shell patterns must
be drained prior to investment casting. These pattren material should be burned instead of
melting.
• When powder material are used, then pattrens produced have porosity and brittle in
nature. Then proper sealing agents are used prior to investment casting process.
Preparation for use as a pattren: Sand casting pattrens
• Binder jetting and PBF processes can be used to directly create sand mold cores and
cavities by using themosetting binders to bind the sand to desired shape
• AM sand casting pattrens for casting, loose powder is removed and pattren is heated to
complete the cross-linking of the thermoset binder and to remove moisture and gaseous
by-products
• Once the pattren is thermally treated, then parts are assembled with corresponding cores
and or cavity, and hot metal is poured into the mold. After cooling, the sand pattren is
removed using tools and bead blasting
Preparation for use as a pattren: Other pattren replication methods
• As the number of AM technologies has increased and the durability of materials that they
can be produced has improved substantially, these replicatioin processe are finding less
use, as people prefer to directly produce the usage product.
• Most common pattern replicating methods are RTV molding or Silicone rubber molding
Property enhancements using non-thermal techniques
• Powder-based and extrusion-based processes often create porous structures. So porosity
can be infiltrated by a higher strength material, such as cyanoacrylate
• Proprietary methods and material have also been developed to increase the strenght,
ductility, heat deflection, etc.,
• A common post-processing operation for photo polymer material is curing. In post-
curing, a device which floods the part with UV and visible radiation inorder to completly
cure the surface and sub-surface regions of the part.
• Additionally part can undergo thermal cure in a low-temperature oven
Property enhancements using thermal techniques
• In DED and PBF techniques for metals, thermal processing is mainly heat-treatment to
obtain specific microstructure and to relieve the thermal stresses
• Specific heat treatment process can be used to obtain the finegrain microstructure
within the material
• Prior to DED and PBF techniques, Binder jetting process is used to produce the green
parts using AM which are further thermal processed to produce dense ceramic and
metal parts. It involves furnace debinding, sintering and infiltration.
• Use of cooling channels which follow the contour surface in an injection mold has
shown significantly increases the productivity of injection mold tooling by decreasing
cooling time.
Property enhancements using thermal techniques