Laser Beam Melting Machine

• Subject Area: Materials Engineering
• Term: Funded in 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 426714238

The chair of Hybrid Additive Manufacturing was founded at the Ruhr University Bochum on March 1, 2018. One research focus is the powder bed fusion based additive manufacturing technology. Due to the currently limited availability of metallic materials and the comparatively early stage of development of these manufacturing processes, the production-oriented design of tailor-made materials (material design) on the one hand and process stability on the other hand are in the foreground of research.A laser beam melting system is applied as a major research instrumentation, which is able to melt and consolidate metallic powder materials to a dense component. In total, four projects will initially be addressed with this system. Due to the parallel-submitted proposal covering an electron beam melting system, the projects are divided into laser beam specific and correlating topics.In the approved subproject of the SPP 2122 - Material for Additive Manufacturing, powder materials with enhanced absorption capacity for laser radiation are developed to expand the range of materials available for processing by laser beam melting and to improve the efficiency of the process regardless of the number of lasers. Through production-oriented material design, the methodology for the development of hybrid in-situ alloys is used in order to produce powder mixtures of metal powder and a reinforced material, which have improved mechanical and tribological properties. In this way, product-specific material properties can be adjusted by the targeted modification of the metal powder.The method of vacuum high-temperature process management is used to investigate the influence of differing temperature application and energy source on the electron and laser beam melting process. Both major research devices allow a comparison of material properties due to the comparable temperature level and the vacuum environment. The analysis of the respective microstructure as a function of the temperature distribution in the component represents the aim of the project.The methodology for a hybrid component manufacturing combines both related manufacturing technologies. The production of a laser beam melted section on an electron beam melted base (and vice versa) leads to a significant gain in knowledge with regard to a hybrid workpiece generation. Thus, the microstructural analysis of both sections and the analysis of the joint is necessary. The implementation of the project requires specific technical requirements for process control, machine technology and the building chamber as well as hardware and software compatibility. The proposed laser beam melting system is conceptually very well suited for the research and fulfills as the only plant the desired criteria.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: Laser-Strahlschmelzanlage
• Instrumentation Group: 5740 Laser in der Fertigung
• Applicant Institution: Ruhr-Universität Bochum
• Leader: Professor Dr. Jan T. Sehrt