Technologies of

Additive Manufacturing
Dr Matthias Hien
Literature:

1. Gibson: Additive Manufacturing Technologies

2. S.Haeri: Optimisation of blade type spreaders for powder bed preparation in Additive
Manufacturing using DEM simulations
3. Aoulaiche Mokrane: Process of selective laser sintering of polymer powders:
Modeling, simulation, and validation Elsevier Masson SAS
4. Kruth:Binding Mechanisms in Selective Laser Sintering and Selective Laser Melting
5. Lee: Laser in additive manufacturing
6. Yan: Investigation into the Differences in the Selective Laser Sintering between
Amorphous and Semi-crystalline Polymers
7. https://www8.hp.com/de/de/printers/3d-printers.html
8. https://3faktur.com/en/3d-printing-materials-technologies/hp-multi-jet-fusion-
technology-overview/
9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oy_YLOY0Un8
10.Shengyong Pang, et al: Explanation of penetration depth variation during laser
welding under variable ambient pressure
11.https://vimeo.com/227802177?from=outro-embed
12.Guo:Scanning system development and digital beam control method for electron
beam selective melting
13.https://vimeo.com/227802177?from=outro-embed
14.Udroiu-2012_Powder bed additive manufacturing systems and its applications
15.Cheng_2018_MULTI-PHYSICS MODELING OF SINGLE TRACK SCANNING IN SELECTIVE
LASER MELTING-POWDER COMPACTION EFFECT
16.JOM-2015-Effect of Powder Reuse Times on Additive Manufacturing of Ti-6Al-4V by
Selective Electron Beam Melting
17.A Guide to D-values in Pharmaceutical Particle Characterisation
18.Cordova_POWDER CHARACTERIZATION AND OPTIMIZATION FOR ADDITIVE
MANUFACTURING
Additive Manufacturing Technologies
Powder Bed Fusion (PBF)
 Powder Bed Fusion (PBF)

X-Y Scanning mirrors

S.Haeri: Optimisation of blade type spreaders for powder bed preparation in Additive Manufacturing using DEM simulations
 Powder Bed Fusion (PBF)

Powder Bed Fusion – Process steps

1. A material layer is spread over the build platform.

• Counter rotating powder levelling roller is spreading the material
• Usually in a chamber filled with Nitrogen- minimize oxidation
• The powder will be tempered just below melting point
2. A laser fuses the first layer or first cross section of the model.
• Adjacent powder remains loose and is used as support for the
next layer
• No need for special support
3. Build platform will be lowered
4. A new layer of powder is spread across the previous layer using the roller.
5. Further layers or cross sections are fused and added.
6. The process repeats until the entire model is created.
7. Cool down period starts before removal
8. Loose, unfused powder remains in position but is removed during post
processing.
 Powder Bed Fusion (PBF)

However there are different powder fusion mechanisms:

• Solid-state sintering
• Chemically induced binding
• Liquid Phase Sintering
• Melting

MJF: Jet Fusion

SLS/DMLS/SLM: Laser sintering
EBM: Electron Beam melting
Further differentiation is the material used:

Engineering
Material

Polymers Metals Ceramics Composites

 Powder bed Fusion mechanism

Kruth:Binding Mechanisms in Selective Laser Sintering and Selective Laser Melting

Lee: Laser in additive manufacturing
 Powder bed Fusion mechanism
Solid State Sintering (SSS)

SSS occurs when the powder is exposed to a temperature between

𝑇𝑚𝑎𝑥
𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑇𝑚𝑎𝑥 where 𝑇𝑚𝑎𝑥 is the melting temperature of the material.
2

Neck formation by diffusion

Increasing Neck
formation
Shrinking
Pore Pore

The reason for SSS is the aspiration to minimize total free Energy 𝐸𝑆
The Surface Energy 𝐸𝑆 = 𝛾𝐴 ∗ 𝐴𝑃
With 𝛾𝐴 is the surface Energy per unit area for a particular material at a
certain atmosphere and temperature
and 𝐴𝑃 is the total surface area of the particles
Decreasing 𝐴𝑃 can be achieved by fusing particles which relates to a
decrease in 𝐸𝑆
The Sintering rate is indirect proportional to the decrease of total surface area.
Sintering rate can be increased by using high pressure (eg HIP)
 Powder bed Fusion mechanism
Solid State Sintering (SSS)
SSS is not a direct wanted mechanism that is triggered by a PBF process. But is always a
side effect (secondary mechanism) during the wanted melting or liquid sintering
process (Primary mechanism). There exist three secondary effects when applying a PBF
process:

1. Loose powder in the built platform gets excessive heat

• Particles start fusing and grow together- Agglomeration
• Recycled powder particles therefore increase in size after each cycle
• Positive is that agglomeration supports the compactness during the
built and gives the powder a compressive strength which works against
part curling
2. Conduction heating of the molten particles.
• Particles close to the molten area can fuse to the built area by solid
state sintering (add on to the built)
• Loose particles close to the built can fuse with each other and form
bigger particles
3. A wanted side-effect that is caused by SSS is the decrease in porosity
• Keeping the part at elevated temperature after building the part helps
to reduce porosity
• Downside older layers are longer exposed to heat and will have a lower
porosity (controlling cooling rate of powder bed needed)
 Powder bed Fusion mechanism
Chemically Induced Sintering

Used for Ceramics

Thermally activated chemical

reactions between:

Powder and atmospheric Two different

gases (reaction forms a by- powder types
product to bind particles)

High temperature
structural ceramic
Laser + SiC +O mix
=SiC+SiO2 Binder
(SiO2)

Intermetallic
Laser + ZrB2 +O Precursor
=ZrB2+ZrO2 Binder Materials
(ZrO2)

Laser + Al + N2=Al +AlN

Binder (AlN)
 Powder bed Fusion mechanism
Liquid Phase Sintering (LPS) Partial Melting

Separate particles (Binder and structure)

Binder material should be smaller than structural grain

• allows better and more efficient packing in
the powder bed
• Less shrinkage
• Lower porosity
• Improved flow of binder into grain gaps
 Powder bed Fusion mechanism
Liquid Phase Sintering (LPS) Partial Melting

Separate particles (Binder and particle)

LPS sometimes has not enough heat and:

• Temperature sinks to quick

• Insufficient time for molten binder to flow
• Leads to porous material
• Post-processing in furnace needed for final
mechanical stability
• “Green parts“
 Powder bed Fusion mechanism
Liquid Phase Sintering (LPS) Partial Melting

Composite parts

Binder and structural material in one particle

• Usually form parts with higher density green
parts
• Better surface finish after processing
• Mixture of two differnt polymers Mixed but distinct
• Polymer with metal visible and to
• Polymer with ceramic recognise under the
• Two metal types microscope
• Metal with Ceramic
 Powder bed Fusion mechanism
Liquid Phase Sintering (LPS) Partial Melting

Coated particles

are a type of composite

• More efficient than random agglomeration of binder and grain
• Better absorption of laser energy
• Control of absorption of laser energy (Binder gets the energy)
• More efficient binding of grain structural particles
• Better flow properties
• Less binder content needed
• Increased built rate
• Easier deposition, spreading and handling (spherical shape makes this
possible)
 Powder bed Fusion mechanism
Liquid Phase Sintering (LPS) Partial Melting

Indistinct Binder and Structural Material

• The sintering of Polymers where a particle is only
partially molten is not a process that is wanted for this
type of products
• For mLS with non-eutectic alloys where regions with
higher concentration of alloys with lower melting
temperatures (these regions will melt first)
• Keeping the heat within the lower temperature will only
melt a portion of the alloy
 Powder bed Fusion mechanism
Full melting

Full melting is the most commonly used PBF process:

• Melting of material to a depth deeper than the layer thickness

• Previous layer remelts and fuses with top layer
• Results in full melting
• Creates well-bonded structure
• Creates high dense structure

Metal alloys (Ti, CoCr, Stainless steel) Distinct melting point

semi-cristalline polymers (Nylon) are most common
Powder Bed Fusion (PBF)
 Process for SLS

• Heating of powder bed

• Powder Bed temperature TB is just below melting temperature TM
• Laser needs low Energy to melt the part
• Laser raises temperature above melting point TM but below deterioration point
• After scanning the molten area gets quickly into TB stage
• If TB is above crystallisation temperature Tc the part will be in a semi-molten
stage for a long time
• No layer by layer residual stress accumulation
• Higher density is reached (here again layer dependent)
 Process for SLS
Different Processing for PA and PS
Differential scanning calorimetry DSC
Semi-crystalline polymer(PA 12) amorphous polymer (PS)

TB
Super TB
Cooling
Window Sintering

Crystallisation Melting
(exotherm) (endotherm)

Tg = glass transition
Tim = initial melting temperature
TB around 90 degree
Tic =initial crystallization temperature
a=heating up
b=cooling down Yan: Investigation into the Differences in the Selective Laser
TB between Tic -Tim Sintering between Amorphous and Semi-crystalline Polymers
 Materials for SLS

Polymers for SLS

With flame
Elastomeric
retardant Biocopatible &
Polyamid (PA) Polystyrene (PS) Thermoplastic
polyamide (PAEK/ Biodegradable
Polymers
PEEK)

Composites
PA used with

glass Aluminium Carbon

beads fibre

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 3D Systems SLS Materials

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 3D Systems SLS Materials
Mechanical properties of final part

Other printing technologies dominate in form fit and function:

Research strongly goes into

Process-----material structure --- parts final properties

Interactions need to be controlled and tested: Influenced by:

• Laser and powder bed

• Melting Material
• Coalescence of melted grains and air diffusion vs Parameter:
densification
• Solidification vs crystallization Process
• Volume shrinkage Parameter:
• Layer deposition

Aoulaiche Mokrane: Process of

selective laser sintering of polymer
All Phenomena spread over different time and space powders: Modeling, simulation, and
validation Elsevier Masson SAS
 3D Systems SLS Materials
Mechanical properties of final part

Material Process
Parameter: Parameter:
• Polymer • Layer thickness
• Grain size • Laser power
• Laser beam diameter
• Scanning velocity
• Spacing between laser scans
• Powder spreading speed
• Preheat temperature
Powder Bed Fusion (PBF)
 Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) HP
Similar to the SLS the powder is Polyamid 12 (PA 12)
Process:
a) material layer is spread over the build platform
b) Alignment of powder
c) Print head ejects a fusing agent onto the powder. This agent is heat
conductive (black colour agent).
d) Detailed agent is applied around the corners to allow a sharp
differentiation, creation of shard temperature differences
e) An infrared light heats up the entire powder area (white powder)
The powder agent mix heats up more efficient and the PA fuses together.

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 Advantage to SLS

1. Part-Density: density of almost 100% (a 5 – 10% higher density as compared to laser-sintered

PA12).
2. Isotropy: Jet Fusion printed parts are widely isotropic, i.e. the strength of a part is
independent of the direction in which it is stressed.
3. Speed: More print heads can work together, the layers take only a few seconds to be printed
and fused. The fusing process is integrated in the printing process, so there are no extra step
involved. (laser sintering ~1 cm / h)
4. Resolution: Due to the use of the very small droplets, the Jet Fusion system has a resolution
in the X-Y-axis of 1200 dpi
Powder Bed Fusion (PBF)
 Selective Laser Melting SLM

Different names - same Method (Fusion with Laser):

Selective Laser Melting (SLM)

Direct Laser Metal Sintering (DMLS)
Laser Cusing
Difficulties to control the process compared to
polymer melting:

• Prudency to oxidize
• High surface tension
• High laser reflectivity of metal powder

Nd:YAG (neodymium-doped
Co2 Laser Fibre laser
yttrium aluminum garnet
 Selective Laser Melting SLM

All SLM Systems use an attachment of the built to the

base plate:

• Use of support structure needed

(attachment)
• Prevents distortion due residual stresses
• Reduced design flexibility due to support
• Removal of support and base plate needs
special operation

Differentiation of SLM makers:

• Laser power
• Number of lasers
• Powder handling
• Scanning strategies
• Maximum build volume
• Different type of controlling (process parameters)
Powder Bed Fusion (PBF)
 Electron Beam Melting (EBM)

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 Electron Beam Melting (EBM)

Raking powder for next layer

Pre-Heating of powder using

the beam

Contour scanning melting

contour of desired part

Hatch melting

Raking powder for next layer

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Guo:Scanning system development and digital

beam control method for electron beam selective
melting
Electron Beam Melting (EBM)
Electron Beam Melting (EBM)
Electron Beam Melting (EBM)
 Comparing EBM vs SLM

Characteristic EBM MLS

Thermal source Electron beam Laser
Atmosphere Vacuum Inert Gas
Scanning Deflection coil Galvanometers
Energy absorption Conductivity-limited Absorptivity-limited

Powder preheating Electron beam Infrared or resistive heater

Scan speed Very fast magnetically driven Limit is the inertia of the
Galvanometer
Energy cost Moderate High
Surface finish Moderate to poor Excellent to moderate
Resolution Moderate Excellent
Materials Conductive metals metals, ceramics,
composites, polymers
Powder particel size Medium Fine

See Gibson 137

Comparing EBM vs SLM
 Comparing EBM vs SLM
SLM

EBM