Open Access

In the Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) process, parts are built out of metal powder material by exposure of a laser beam. During handling operations of the powder material, several influencing factors can affect the properties of the powder material and therefore directly influence the processability during manufacturing. Contamination by moisture due to handling operations is one of the most critical aspects of powder quality. In order to investigate the influences of powder humidity on LPBF processing, four materials (AlSi10Mg, Ti6Al4V, 316L and IN718) are chosen for this study. The powder material is artificially humidified, subsequently characterized, manufactured into cubic samples in a miniaturized process chamber and analyzed for their relative density. The results indicate that the processability and reproducibility of parts made of AlSi10Mg and Ti6Al4V are susceptible to humidity, while IN718 and 316L are barely influenced.

Background: Many aspects of ductile failure through microvoid coalescence remain elusive due to the challenging spatial and temporal scales it operates on. Experimentally resolving all aspects of the process remains a significant goal of researchers. Much of the current understanding has been derived from post-mortem metallography, leaving key aspects of its evolution undocumented. Objective: This work builds on efforts using X-ray computed tomography (XCT) characterize voids and their evolution under loading. Methods: It employs in-situ XCT tensile testing on 316L Stainless Steel samples that were constructed by laser powder bed fusion that contain tailored, pre-existing voids with a spatial scale relevant to the growth and evolution stages of microvoid coalescence. Pre-existing voids extended the observation window for monitoring void growth and interaction under loading. They also enhanced fiducial correlation of voids during deformation. Results: Void populations were found to increase under loading as their deformed dimensions rendered them detectable by the XCT algorithm. Neighboring voids underwent interconnection events by a cleavage process when stress concentrations between them exceeded the macroscopic yield stress. Pores that did not undergo interconnection events were found to revert to their initial size and population after unloading. Finally, the porosity structure before failure was correlated to features on the fracture surface with high fidelity. Conclusions: This unique combination of in-situ XCT tensile testing on samples with tailored void structure enabled new visualization and quantification of void evolution under load as well as strong correlation to the observed stress–strain behavior and post-mortem fracture characteristics.

The thermal conductivity of components manufactured using Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF), also called Selective Laser Melting (SLM), plays an important role in their processing. Not only does a reduced thermal conductivity cause residual stresses during the process, but it also makes subsequent processes such as the welding of LPBF components more difficult. This article uses 316L stainless steel samples to investigate whether and to what extent the thermal conductivity of specimens can be influenced by different LPBF parameters. To this end, samples are set up using different parameters, orientations, and powder conditions and measured by a heat flow meter using stationary analysis. The heat flow meter set-up used in this study achieves good reproducibility and high measurement accuracy, so that comparative measurements between the various LPBF influencing factors to be tested are possible. In summary, the series of measurements show that the residual porosity of the components has the greatest influence on conductivity. The degradation of the powder due to increased recycling also appears to be detectable. The build-up direction shows no detectable effect in the measurement series.

In the study, the process chain of additive manufacturing by means of powder bed fusion will be presented based on the material glass. In order to reliably process components additively, new concepts with different solutions were developed and investigated. Compared to established metallic materials, the properties of glass materials differ significantly. Therefore, the process control was adapted to the material glass in the investigations. With extensive parameter studies based on various glass powders such as borosilicate glass and quartz glass, scientifically proven results on powder bed fusion of glass are presented. Based on the determination of the particle properties with different methods, extensive investigations are made regarding the melting behavior of glass by means of laser beams. Furthermore, the experimental setup was steadily expanded. In addition to the integration of coaxial temperature measurement and regulation, preheating of the building platform is of major importance. This offers the possibility to perform 3D printing at the transformation temperatures of the glass materials. To improve the component’s properties, the influence of a subsequent heat treatment was also investigated. The experience gained was incorporated into a new experimental system, which allows a much better exploration of the 3D printing of glass. Currently, studies are being conducted to improve surface texture, building accuracy, and geometrical capabilities using three-dimensional specimen. The contribution shows the development of research in the field of 3D printing of glass, gives an insight into the machine and process engineering as well as an outlook on the possibilities and applications.

As researchers continue to seek the expansion of the material base for additive manufacturing, there is a need to focus attention on the Ni–Cu group of alloys which conventionally has wide industrial applications. In this work, the G-NiCu30Nb casting alloy, a variant of the Monel family of alloys with Nb and high Si content is, for the first time, processed via the laser powder bed fusion process (LPBF). Being novel to the LPBF processes, optimum LPBF parameters were determined, and hardness and tensile tests were performed in as-built conditions and after heat treatment at 1000 °C. Microstructures of the as-cast and the as-built condition were compared. Highly dense samples (99.8% density) were achieved after varying hatch distance (80 µm and 140 µm) with scanning speed (550 mm/s–1500 mm/s). There was no significant difference in microhardness between varied hatch distance print sets. Microhardness of the as-built condition (247 HV0.2) exceeded the as-cast microhardness (179 HV0.2.). Tensile specimens built in vertical (V) and horizontal (H) orientations revealed degrees of anisotropy and were superior to conventionally reported figures. Post heat treatment increased ductility from 20% to 31% (V), as well as from 16% to 25% (H), while ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and yield strength (YS) were considerably reduced.