Laser Additive Manufacturing of Gas Permeable Structures

Laser additive manufacturing offers a variety of new design possibilities. In mold making laser additive manufactured inserts with conformal cooling channels are already state of the art. Pneumatic ejectors for injection molds are a new application for laser additive manufacturing. The pneumatic ejectors require a durable gas permeable material. This material is produced by placing the scan vectors for the laser additive manufacturing process in a defined pattern. Trials with different plastics proofed the function and reliability of the pneumatic ejector concept in the injection molding cycle

Fabrikstrukturen für die additive Fertigung: Gestaltung der anforderungsgerechten Fabrikstruktur für die Produktion der Zukunft

Der Aufbau von Produktionskapazitäten mit additiven Fertigungsverfahren wird durch neue Anwendungen in verschiedenen Branchen mit hohem Wachstumspotenzial getrieben, deren individuelle Anforderungen sich im geplanten Produktionsprogramm widerspiegeln. Die dargestellte Methode ermöglicht die Gestaltung von anforderungsgerechten Fabrikstrukturen für die additive Fertigung. Anhand idealisierter Anforderungstypen wird die Funktionsweise der Methode dargestellt und verdeutlicht, wie sich verschiedene Produktionsprogramme auf die Fabrikstruktur auswirken

Enabling Cost-based Support Structure Optimization in Laser Powder Bed Fusion of Metals

Support structures are essential to laser powder bed fusion (PBF-LB/M). They sustain overhangs, prevent distortion, and dissipate process-induced heat. Their removal after manufacturing is required, though, increasing the overall costs. Therefore, optimization is important to increase the economic efficiency of PBF-LB/M. To enable optimization focused on the support structures’ costs, a cost model is developed. The whole production process, including the design, manufacturing, and post-processing of a part is considered by deriving formulas for the individual costs. The cost model is applied to a benchmark procedure previously developed. Additionally, a case study investigating different support layout strategies is conducted.Mechanical Engineerin

Analysis of Design Guidelines for Automated Order Acceptance in Additive Manufacturing

Additive manufacturing (AM) is increasingly used in industrial production. Compared to conventional manufacturing technologies, such as milling and casting, AM offers a high degree of design freedom. Nevertheless, still some manufacturing restrictions and design guidelines have to be considered to ensure a flawless production. Therefore, a checking of design guidelines is a necessary step in order acceptance. Addressing this need, this paper presents an integrated analysis of design guidelines for an automated order acceptance. In recent times, guideline catalogs for the design of additively manufactured parts have been developed. However, the analysis of a part's geometry with regard to these guidelines still requires a lot of manual work and expert knowledge. This paper introduces different algorithmic approaches, which automate the analysis and assessment of a part's geometry. Based on a preselection of guidelines from existing design catalogs for selective laser melting and sintering, this paper presents algorithms to automatically check the manufacturability of a part. The algorithms use the triangulated surface geometry (STL) of a part. They are implemented within a web-based platform for the automated order acceptance of additive manufactured parts. The evaluation compares the different algorithms regarding their efficiency and effectiveness

A Cloud-based Platform for Automated Order Processing in Additive Manufacturing

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is increasingly used in the industrial part production. More than almost any other manufacturing technology, AM embodies the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0). Even though AM allows a nearly direct manufacturing of parts out of their CAD data, the order processing still requires a lot of manual work. This paper addresses this issue by presenting a cloud-based platform, which has the intension to integrate and automate the order processing for additively manufactured parts. In addition to facilitating the order processing of the manufacturing service provider, the platform also serves as an interface to the customer. The focus of the platform is on an automation of the order acceptance, the offer calculation, and the part screening for the identification of appropriate AM parts. The paper builds an exemplary Industry 4.0 showcase by illustrating concepts and methods for an automation of the order processing and introducing the architecture of the implemented system. This includes web-based services for the management of parts and orders as well as an integrated analysis of geometry data for checking of manufacturability and quotation costing. The evaluation examines the efficiency and effectiveness of the platform

Organisation von Nachbearbeitungsprozessen in additiven Produktionsstrukturen

Additive Fertigungsverfahren werden seit jüngster Zeit vermehrt in der Serienfertigung metallischer Bauteile eingesetzt. Fester Bestandteil der Prozesskette ist in der Regel eine Nachbearbeitung der generierten Bauteile. So werden spanende Fertigungsverfahren beispielsweise zur Endbearbeitung von Funktionsflächen benötigt. Die Einbindung dieser Nachbearbeitungsprozesse in die additive Teilefertigung verlangt nach neuen Lösungen der Fertigungsorganisation. Um eine effiziente Auftragsabwicklung zu gewährleisten, werden an der Fraunhofer-Einrichtung für Additive Produktionstechnologien (Fraunhofer IAPT) Methoden zur intelligenten Organisation und Integration von Nachbearbeitungsprozessen in die additive Produktionskette entwickelt

Bauteilbewertung in der Cloud: Webbasierte Potenzialbewertung für die additive Fertigung

Additive Fertigungsverfahren erlauben aufgrund ihrer geometrischen Freiheitsgrade die Herstellung komplexer, optimierter Produkte. Trotzdem werden additive Herstellverfahren bisher für vergleichsweise wenige Bauteile in der Serienfertigung eingesetzt. Insbesondere angesichts der Trends zu Individualisierung und Optimierung von Produkten sowie immer kürzeren Produktlebenszyklen sind zahlreiche Potenziale in der Anwendung noch nicht erschlossen. In diesem Beitrag wird eine cloudbasierte Plattform vorgestellt, mit welcher sich Potenziale additiver Fertigung bewerten und erschließen lassen