ME261:

Primary Manufacturing
Processes

Additive Manufacturing

Dr. Virkeshwar Kumar

Additive manufacturing: Principle, advantages & possibilities
Digital 3D design data is used to build up a component in layers by depositing
material.

A layer by layer build up.

Metals, plastics, composite and ceramic materials are in use.
AM Process principle and path
 AM: Benefits
Freedom of Design
Light Weight
1) Static: Weight of Parts
2) Dynamic: Moving,
accelerated parts
3) Lattice Structures

Customization Cost Advantages

Individualized Parts Integrated Functionality
1) Customer specific 1) Embedded Functionality
adaptations 2) No Assembly
2) Medical Implants 3) Minimized Stock

Time to Market
Prototyping
Lorem ipsum
1) Fast feasibility feedback
by prototyping
2) CAD data to parts
3) Cost efficient small
series production
Selective Laser Melting (SLM) / Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF)

A powder bed process , involving

the use of laser as a heat source

The heat causes powder particles to melt

and form a melt pool which solidifies as a
consolidated layer of material.

Full melting of the particles and then re-solidification

SLM produces parts with much higher density and strength

Can process metals, alloys and metal matrix composites (MMCs)

like stainless steel, tool steel, cobalt chrome, titanium, Al
Process
• A powder bed process, involving the use of laser as a heat source for manufacturing
hard and brittle materials and fabricating complex shapes by layer upon layer
techniques.
• Structures that will be fabricated are designed on the computer-aided-design and
computer-aided-manufacturing (CAD–CAM) system before being converted to the
STL file format
• The STL file is then sliced into numerous cross-sections of a layer thickness pre-
defined by the user and input into the SLM computer.
• The fabrication process first begins with a layer of powder of pre-defined thickness,
usually 20–50 µm being laid across the base-plate by a recoater.
 Fig. 2. Laser beam melting powder in the SLM process

• The heat generated causes powder particles to melt

and form a melt pool which solidifies as a consolidated
Fig. 1. Schematic of the SLM process layer of material.

• SLM is very similar to SLS in terms of equipment but

uses a much higher energy density, which enables full
melting of the powders. Therefore, the fabricated parts
exhibit a density very close to the theoretical one.
Process…Contd
• After a layer of powder is laid, the Yb:YAG fibre laser beam scans the powder-coated
base-plate according to the first cross-section defined by the input STL file.
• When the scanning of first cross-section is complete, the building platform will
move several microns down, a distance equivalent to the pre-defined layer
thickness of 50 µm. This is the end of a cycle.
• After which, the recoater will once again move across the base-plate, laying another
50 µm layer of powder and the process repeats as described.
• Areas that have been scanned by the laser will become solid while those not
scanned by the laser will remain in powder form and serve as support material. The
entire fabrication process occurs generally in inert environment.
• To prevent oxidation, degradation and interaction of the molten material with the
surroundings argon gas environment is used.
• After the entire fabrication process is complete the supporting powder will be
collected and sieved for reuse.
 Process…Contd
• The temperature experienced by the powder under it rises and eventually melts
when the melting point is exceeded.
• The energy density deposited has to be sufficient in order to ensure not only the
melting of the powder but also the underlying base-plate as both have to fuse
together to avoid weak bonding.
• Weak bonding between layers are the source of cracking and are undesirable.
• During melting, the powder layer will shrink in volume as the molten metal seeps
through pores.
• Volume shrinkage is equivalent to the initial powder porosity.
• If the energy density deposited is high, the temperature of the molten metal will
continue to rise and evaporation will occur when the boiling point is exceeded.
• The evaporated material is removed by the flow of argon gas and as the laser beam
moves away, the remaining molten metal cools rapidly and solidifies.
• The presence of pores in SLM fabricated parts could be possible due to the inherent
trapping of gas in the melt pool, recoil pressure experienced by the molten material
as the material evaporates and reduction in the dissolved element solubility during
the rapid melting and cooling process.
 Advantages
• Complete melting of powder in SLM could produce parts with much higher
density and strength.
• Negligible waste of material (unused powders can be recycled).
• Possibility of producing complicated shapes (e.g., a steel mold with curved
internal cooling channels, which is common to other AM methods).
• Ability to process a wide variety of metals and their mixtures (due to the
powder-based nature of SLM).
• No need for any distinct binders or melt phases.

Disadvantages
• SLM suffers from melt pool instabilities leading to imperfections such as low-
quality down-facing surfaces, greater upper-surface roughness, and the risk of
internal pores.
• The coarse and grainy surface finish may require a secondary machining or
polishing process.
• The high temperature gradients in SLM increase the risk of delamination and
distortion due to large thermal or residual stresses.
• From an economical aspect, the high cost of a high-power laser source, long
processing times, and a small palette of available materials are the main obstacles.
Materials
➢ Stainless steel
➢ Cobalt-Chrome alloys
➢ Titanium alloys
➢ Bronze-nickel alloys
➢ Tool steels
➢ Nickel based superalloys
➢ Composites
➢ Plastics and polymer
 CHALLENGES

Surface finish

Residual Stress

Density Issue

Balling
 Potential Defects
Porosity
Porosity is a common defect in SLM products because the powder consolidation
process is driven only by temperature changes, gravity, and capillary forces, without
the application of external pressure.

Porosity evolution in AlSi10Mg

samples processed using
different combinations of scan
speeds and scan strategies.
Balling
Balling occurs when the molten material fails to wet the underlying substrate (due to
the surface tension), spheroidizing the liquid. This results in a rough and bead-shaped
scan track, increasing the surface roughness and increasing the porosity. Generally, both
material properties and processing variables can influence wettability and consequently
balling.

Balling characteristics of single scan tracks under different scan speeds.

Residual Stress
SLM is known to introduce large amounts of residual stresses due to the large
thermal gradients that intrinsically exist in the process. The residual stress originates
partly from the cooling and shrinkage of the newly molten layer and partly from
strain-induced stresses in the solid layers on the substrate underneath the newly
applied layer. This imposes tensile stresses on the newly deposited layer and creates
compressive stresses at the bottom. The residual stresses will be partially relieved
after cutting the part from the base plate, causing some deformation. The stress is
usually tensile at the top or bottom and compressive in the center of the part.

Cracks
Cracks commonly originate from the high temperature gradient between the melt
pool and surrounding solids leading to excessive thermal stress and rupture.
Compositional segregations in some alloys may intensify the cracking. Alloys that
are prone to hot cracking and solidification cracking have been proven difficult to
process by SLM.
Research opportunities in SLM
➢ Melt pool formation and solidfification
➢ Investigating mechanisms of residual stress build up and finite element
modeling
➢ Measurement of ‘as built’ residual stress
➢ Parameter development for increase build rate
➢ Parameter development for improved down facing surface finish
➢ Mechanical property validation together with build position and parameter
effects
➢ Microstructural evolution and modeling
➢ Manufacture and quantification of complex net structures
➢ Deposition of new and novel materials
 LASER ENGINEERED NET SHAPING (LENS) /
LASER DIRECTED ENERGY DEPOSITION (LDED)

a type of Beam Deposition (BD) Process

LENS (LDED) Process
• This machine employs powder delivery through a nozzle placed above the
part.
• The powder is melted where the material converges with the laser and the
substrate.
• Unlike the powder bed fusion techniques discussed, BD processes are NOT
used to melt a material that is pre-laid in a powder bed but are used to melt
materials as they are being deposited.
• Energy focused into a narrow region (a beam, such as a laser, electron beam or
plasma arc), which is used to heat a material that is being deposited.
• Each pass of the beam deposition head creates a track of solidified material,
and adjacent lines of material make up layers.
• This approach allows the process to be used to add material to an existing part,
which means it can be used for repair of expensive metal components that
may have been damaged, like chipped turbine blades and injection mold tool
inserts.
• This process involves deposition, melting and solidification of powdered material using a
traveling melt pool, the resulting parts attain a high density during the build process
(although the surface often has porosity due to adhered partially molten particles).

LENS-deposited Ti/TiC metal matrix

composite structure (4 layers on top of
a Ti substrate)

CoCrMo deposit on CoCrMo: (a)

side view (every other layer is
deposited perpendicular
to the previous layer using a
0,90,0 pattern); and (b) top
view of deposit
MATERIALS
• Process also allows fabricating multiple materials structures with
gradient or stepped material transitions.
• These processes can involve extremely high solidification cooling rates,
from 103 to as high as 105 ºC/s. This can lead to several microstructural
advantages, including:
(a) suppression of diffusion controlled solid-state phase transformations
(b) formation of supersaturated solutions and nonequilibrium phases
(c) formation of extremely fine microstructures with dramatically reduced
elemental segregation
(d) formation of very fine secondary phase particles (inclusions, carbides, etc.)
Applications
• Build mold and die inserts
• Producing titanium parts in racing industry
• Fabricate titanium components for biological implants
• Produce functionally gradient structures
Research and Development
• Embedded structures.
• Thermally conductive materials.
• Gradient materials.
• Metal matrix composites.
• Mold repair and modification
• Ways to increase deposition rate.
 ME261:
Primary Manufacturing
Processes

Inkjet 3D Printing
 Development of 3D Printing
Printing as a three-dimensional building method.

Both direct part printing and binder printing technologies are introduced. Direct
printing refers to processes where all of the part material is dispensed from a
print head, while binder printing refers to a broad class of processes where
binder or other additive is printed onto a powder bed which forms the bulk of
the part.

First demonstrated in the 1980s with patents related to the development of

Ballistic Particle Manufacturing, which involved simple deposition of “particles”
of material onto an article.

Binder printing methods

• Developed in the early 1990s primarily at MIT.
• They developed the 3D Printing (3DP) process in which a binder is printed onto
a powder bed to form part cross sections.
• A recoating system similar to SLS machines then deposits another layer of
powder, enabling the machine to print binder to define the next cross section.
3D Printing (3DP)

1. A layer of powder (plaster, ceramic) is

spread across the build area
2. Inkjet-like printing of binder over the
top layer densifies and compacts the
powder locally
3. The platform is lowered and the next
layer of dry powder is spread on top
of the previous layer
4. Upon extraction from the machine,
the dry powder is brushed off and
recycled
 3D printing
➢ 3DP prints a binder into a powder bed to fabricate a part. The machine spreads a layer of
powder from the feed box to cover the surface of the build piston. The printer then
prints binder solution onto the loose powder, forming the first cross-section.
➢ Hence, in 3DP, only a small portion of the part material is delivered through the print-head.
➢ Most of the part material is comprised of powder in the powder bed.
➢ Binder droplets (80 μm in diameter) form spherical agglomerates of binder liquid and
powder particles as well as provide bonding to the previously printed layer. The powder is
glued together at where the binder is printed. The remaining powder remains loose
and supports the layers that will be printed above.
➢ Once a layer is printed, the powder bed is lowered and a new layer of powder is spread onto
it.
➢ This process (printing binder into bed; recoating bed with new layer of powder) is repeated
until the part, or array of parts, is completed.
Features of 3D Printing
➢ A typical inkjet nozzle delivers approximately 1 cm3/min of binder; thus a machine
with a 100 nozzle printhead could create up to approximately 200 cm3/min of
printed component. Because commercial inkjet printers exist with up to 1,600
nozzles, 3DP could be fast enough to be used as a production process.
➢ With respect to direct printing, binder printing has some distinct advantages. First,
it can be faster since only a small fraction of the total part volume must be
dispensed through the print heads. However, the need to recoat powder adds an
extra step, slowing down binder processes somewhat.
➢ Second, the combination of powder materials and additives in binders enables
material compositions that are not possible, or not easily achieved, using direct
methods.
➢ Third, slurries with higher solids loadings are possible with binder printing,
compared with direct printing, enabling better quality ceramic and metal parts to
be produced.
➢ Binder printing processes can readily print colors onto parts.
 Droplet Formation Technologies
➢Modes of expulsion: CS DOD

• Continuous stream (CS)

• Drop-on-demand (DOD)

This distinction refers to the form in which the

liquid exits the nozzle – as either a
continuous column of liquid or as discrete droplets.
Continuous Mode
➢ A steady pressure is applied to the fluid reservoir, causing a pressurized
column of fluid to be ejected from the nozzle. After departing the nozzle,
this stream breaks into droplets due to Rayleigh instability.
➢ The breakup can be made more consistent by vibrating, perturbing, or
modulating the jet at a fixed frequency close to the spontaneous droplet
formation rate, in which case the droplet formation process is
synchronized with the forced vibration, and ink droplets of uniform mass
are ejected.
➢ Because droplets are produced at constant intervals, their deposition
must be controlled after they separate from the jet.
➢ To achieve this, they are introduced to a charging field and thus attain an
electrostatic charge. These charged particles then pass through a
deflection field, which directs the particles to their desired destinations –
either a location on the substrate or a container of material to be
recycled or disposed
Binary deflection continuous
printing
Drop-on-Demand Mode
➢Individual droplets are produced directly from the nozzle.
➢Droplets are formed only when individual pressure pulses in
the nozzle cause the fluid to be expelled.
➢These pressure pulses are created at specific times by:
• Thermal (bubble-jet)
• Electrostatic
• Piezoelectric
• Acoustic
• Other actuators
In the current DOD printing industry, thermal (bubble-jet) and
piezoelectric actuator technologies dominate
Schematic of DOD printing system