DIRECT FABRICATION OF METAL COMPONENTS USING LASER FORMING TECHNIQUES

Abstract

This paper will focus on the direct fabrication of metal components by using laser forming techniques in a layer-by-layer fashion. Since then both the range of commercially available powder materials and also the properties of the resulting parts have indeed improved considerably, especially in the metals area. At the same time, the focus has changed from non-standard to conventional materials. This trend has been driven by the increasing interest in rapid manufacturing, i.e. direct manufacturing of end-use parts. Since such parts are typically intended to substitute existing products or components which are produced using conventional manufacturing processes such as investment casting, die casting, forging and machining, users often demand comparable materials (as similar as possible). This is in order to achieve acceptance for the new products, despite the still relatively low awareness and acceptance of laser-sintering, and also to minimize the effort for testing, certification etc.

 Key words: Rapid Prototyping & Manufacturing, Selective laser melting, SLM principles