Limitations of Additive

Manufacturing Technology

Presented by: Dr. Rahimah binti Abdul Hamid

Learning Outcomes
By the end of the lesson the student will be able to:
a. Discuss the limitations of AM technology.
b. Explain the stair-case effect which causes poor
surface finish.
c. Explain how residual stresses are developed in
metal parts by powder bed additive
manufacturing processes.
d. Discuss what defects can arise in the components
due to stresses during the build, in the case of
metal-based AM processes.

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 Introduction
• In particular AM, as one of the key enablers of Industry 4.0,
enables the production of high value, complex and
customized products.
• It leads to reduction of time-to-market and the cost of
manufacturing. AM is also seen as a potential game changer
in maintenance, repair and overhauling areas.
• AM technology emerged from other key developments in
other disciplines such as laser technology, numerical
control (NC) of machine tools, physical chemistry of
materials and CAD technologies. Therefore, the
technological advances within CAD, NC, laser and material
technology, influence the advances in AM technology.
• With Industry 4.0, it is expected that the AM technology
will be used consistently to produce final products for
different applications and industries. However, this step
forward requires that AM processes and parts meet quality
and repeatability standards that currently do not exist.
Thus, efforts are being made by the scientific community to
increase the knowledge on AM processes and the quality
of parts.
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Limitation 1
Stair-case Effect
• The layer-wise production process leads to a “staircase effect” at angled
surfaces that is the result of a limited geometric resolution.
• Thus only an approximation of the ideal part contour is possible.
Compared with high layer thicknesses, low thicknesses facilitate a higher
geometric resolution but lead to an increase in manufacturing time by
increasing the overall layers to be built and exposed.

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Limitation 1
Stair-case Effect (con’t)
• One of its disadvantages is the formation of stair steps in the tool radii.
Generally in selective laser sintering there occurs two kind of stair
stepping, 1) Horizontal stair stepping, 2) Vertical stair stepping. These
two occurred due to granular structure of powdery materials are used
in these layer by layer manufacturing process and also formation and
joining of discrete layer in additive manufacturing process.
• In addition, it was found that when layer thickness increased from 0.2 to
2.0 mm, the staircase amount increased by 300%.

Figure 10.7. Staircase effect on bores and holes.

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Factor A: Layer Thickness
SEM Images of Ruptured Tensile Test Specimens

Top jig

Specimen

Bottom jig

Incomplete diffusion
Reduction of cross section

0.1, 0° 0.5, 0°
0.3, 0°
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Factor B: Part Orientation
Suitable orientation of the part is crucial in AM for
improving the Geometrical and Dimensional Tolerance
(G&DT), reducing build times and minimizing support
volume and part production costs. The part orientation
affects surface accuracy, builds height, and supports volume. 0.1, 0°

90° 45°

0°

Support

0.1, 45°

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0.1, 90°
Limitation 2
Surface Quality
• Most of commonly used Additive manufacturing (AM) technologies are
developed based on a layered manufacturing process to fabricate 3D
models. However, a critical drawback that reduces the surface quality of
the AM parts is the stair case effect as a direct result of the layered
deposition of the material.
• An unresolved challenge for AM is surface finish. Components subject to
fatigue must be fully machined or undergo some other surface
modification, such as shot peening, to enable inspection. The additional
processes add cost but more significantly this prevents the full benefits
of AM from being realized. In theory, AM gives complete freedom to
create complex shapes, such as those generated by topology
optimization. In practice, surface finish requirements often prevent this.

https://www.digitalalloys.com/blog/surface-roughness/ 8
Residual Stress (RS)
Definition
• The freedom of design of AM products suffers from some limitations in
case of laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) processes, because AM part’s
integrity is affected by the residual stress state that is a consequence of
the thermal history during part fabrication, which may lead to
geometrical distortions and quality inspection failures.
• Residual stresses can be introduced into mechanical components during
various thermal or thermo-mechanical processes such as heat
treatment, forming, and welding. In the sense of powder bed AM,
residual stresses are developed when either laser, heat or electron beam
is used to melt and fuse the material together to form a three
dimensional object.
• RSs are defined as the stresses that exist within a body without any
externally applied loads (i.e. the body is in equilibrium with its
surroundings). They are also referred to as “internal” or “locked-in”
stresses, and they can either strengthen a material, like toughened glass,
or weaken a part. In AM, RSs might often be referred to as thermal
stresses, since their origin is the steep thermal gradients in the
manufacturing process.

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Residual Stress (RS)
Effects
• It is recognized that manufacturing processes in which a laser is used as an
energy source, such as soldering and laser bending, generate high levels of
residual stresses, because of the large temperature gradients that are produced
on the components. In the case of the L-PBF process, the residual stresses are
responsible of distortions, cracks and delamination between layers as well as
detachments from support structures or even the failure of the AM process.
Moreover, the stress distribution on the final component can affect the integrity
and lifetime of the part to a great extent.
• The development of residual stresses on the basis of the Temperature Gradient
Mechanism (TGM). In details, the steep temperature gradient in the exposed
area of the powder bed produces transient thermal deformations on the last
layer and on the previous ones. When the laser source is removed, the
processed material cools down and shrinks more than the non-exposed material
that is present in the surrounding areas, and residual stresses are thus created.
• Not only does each AM technology have unique features, e.g., material feedstock,
heat source, and atmospheric conditions, but operator-input process parameters,
such as scanning strategy (heat source path pattern), scanning speed, laser power,
and build orientation can also lead to varying characteristics of RSs (size,
direction, distribution).

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Residual Stress (RS)
Build Orientation
• It should be pointed out that the specimens with an
inclination of less than 45 degrees to the platform
required a support system during the construction
phase.
• The supports in fact constitute a thermal exchange
surface with the higher thermal exchange
coefficient of the unsintered powder, and therefore
allow heat to be drawn out, the thermal gradient to
be reduced and, as a result, the residual stress state
is also reduced.

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Residual Stress (RS)
Open and Closed Geometry
• Moreover, the residual stress is lower in the case of
a free geometry, in that there is a greater possibility
of stress release than in the closed geometry case.
• It is in fact known from the literature that the
residual stress state is greater moving away from
the construction platform, as the thermal effect
generated by heating of the platform itself is
reduced.

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Defects in Metal AM
• There are a few major obstacles preventing AM from
fully surpassing traditional processes; AM is prone to
microstructural defects and porosities that affect
mechanical behavior of components, as well as residual
stress (RS) formation, which can lead to geometric
inaccuracies (part distortion) and deteriorate
performance.
• Regarding geometrical accuracy, one must note that
part distortions occur as a result of RS formation; the
stresses that are generated tend to pull or push
(depending on the direction of the RS) the material and
deflect the part, as commonly seen in welding, hot
rolling, and bending.
https://www.insidemetaladditivemanufacturing.com/blog/visual-guide-to-the-most-common-defects-in-powder-bed-fusion-technology
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Defects in Metal AM
Distortion
• The additive manufacturing process selective laser melting (SLM) can be
used to directly produce functional components made out of metal.
During the construction process, however, thermally induced residual
stress occurs due to the layered build-up and the local input of energy
by means of a focused laser beam, which can lead to distortion of the
component or sections of the component itself.
• Normally, distortion is prevented due to supporting structures between
the component and the substrate plate. It is not always possible,
however, to provide all the areas of a component with supporting
structures or to remove them later, depending on how complex the
geometry or how accessible the structures are.

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Defects in Metal AM
Shrinkage
• Macroscopic defects can be seen, which are caused
by the shrinkage of the layers and residual stresses.

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Defects in Metal AM
Crack
• Due to solidification cracking or grain boundary
cracking or other macroscopic effects
(macroscopic defects, residual stress, surface
roughness)

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Defects in Metal AM
Delamination
• Separation of successive layers due to inappropriate melting
overlap with previous underlying solidified powder or
incomplete particles melting.
• Macroscopic effects and cannot be repaired by post-
processing.

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Defects in Metal AM
Swelling
• Similar to the humping phenomenon in welding
occurs due to surface tension effects related to the
melt pool geometry.

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Defects in Metal AM
Balling Effect
• solidification of melted material into spheres – due
to lack of wettability with previous layer, driven by
surface tension and directly related to melt pool
characteristics.

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 Other: Multi-materials Printing
• While multiple material printing for rapid prototyping is
widely in use, AM processes that can handle multiple
materials are limited and process dependent. For
instance, FDM and similar process that print the part by
extrusion and jetting can use several nozzles to jet the
molten polymer material and hence are inherently
suited to a multiple material printing.
• On the other hand, powder and liquid bed based
technologies such as SLM/SLS and SLA respectively are
less suitable for multi-material printing. Though multi-
material printing is achievable, how to determine the
optimal material combinations to maximize the
material mechanical properties and save material
consumption is the research challenge.

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Other: SLM vs SLS
• Contrary to SLS, SLM is difficult to control the process
and hence the quality of the product. But, when
compared with conventional metal casting, SLM provides
products with fine microstructure due to the higher
cooling rate.
• In particular, parts produced by SLM commonly
experience residual stresses due to the combined effect
of high temperature forming and the need for support
structure. This influences the process efficiency because
of the required post processing including heat treatment
and post machining.

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Conclusion

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End of lecture.
Thank you.

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