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metallurgy association

ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING
TECHNOLOGY

Think out of the box with Additive Manufacturing

Are you looking for innovative solutions to produce technology?
Are you looking for a new solution to produce metal parts without tools?
Do you wish to significantly shorten your manufacturing cycle time?
Are you looking for a new solution to create lightweight components?
Are you willing to drastically reduce your development time?

If your answer is YES to one or several of these questions, additive manufacturing

technology is for you!

This leaflet is a publication of the EAMG, the Additive Manufacturing group of EPMA.
For more information, contact Dr Olivier Coube at oc@epma.com

www.epma.com/am
What is Additive Manufacturing?
Additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, rapid prototyping or freeform fabrication,
is the process of joining materials to make objects from 3D model data, usually layer upon
layer, as opposed to subtractive manufacturing methodologies such as machining. The term
3D printing can be defined as the fabrication of objects through the deposition of a material
using a print head, nozzle, or another printer technology.

Additive Manufacturing technologies

There are 2 main families of additive manufacturing technologies
Powder bed technologies
- Selective Laser Melting (SLM) where the metal powder is melted by a
laser beam
- Electron Beam Melting (EBM) where the metal powder is melted by an
electron beam after a preheating step
- Precision inkjet printing where the metal powder is mixed with a binder:
after the printing operation, the part is consolidated by sintering

Blown powder technologies, also known as Laser Metal Deposition or Laser cladding
- In this process, the metal powder is blown coaxially to the laser beam which
melts the particles on a base metal to form a metallurgical bond when cooled

Selective Laser Melting Blown Powder Technolgy Inkjet Printing

melting of Printer
application of the powder Powder Delivery
powder layer System
laser

ink-jet
metal pool powder
layer feeding

heat affected
zone Powder Bed

Print Box Piston

lowering the platform
Features
+ Complex shapes &
internal cavities
+ Thin walls & lattice
structures
+ Better surface finish
Features
+ Both for cladding & Freeform + High tolerances, good
+ Large part size possible
+ High powder deposition
rates possible
+ Use of coarser powders
Followed by a part sintering step
Features
surface finish & high
resolution due to no
melting during printing
+ Suitable for thin walls
& channels as cleaning is
facilitated due to no
melting during printing
+ High productivity for
small complex
components
The key benefits of Additive Manufacturing
Freedom of design
Complex shape, inner cavities or foam / lattice structures, impossible to produce by
machining
Thin walls & shapes impossible to produce by casting
Light weight parts with lattice / foam inner structures
Flexibility in design changes
Customized design
Multiple pieces built as one
No tool needed
Short production time (a few hours)

A wide range of
alloys possible
Titanium alloys
Aluminium Alloys
Nickel base alloys
Cobalt base alloys
Stainless steels
Tool steels
Other Fe base alloys
Copper base alloys
Precious metals
Others

Metal Powders key features

For additive manufacturing, metal powders should have:

spherical shape to ensure good flow and coating ability
particle size usually below 50 m or below 150 m depending on machine type and
surface finish required
particle size distribution tailored to the application & properties
controlled chemical composition
controlled gas content
 Aerospace

Combusion
chamber
Microturbines

Jet Engine Part

Fuel Injection
Turbine Blade Turbine Blade Swirler

Medical

Dental Bridge Acetabular cup for Cranial Implant Surgical Guide

HIP implant

Automotive, Industrial and Tooling

Lightweight
Fasteners

Boat Propeller
Heat Shield
Bracket
Hydraulic Tooling
Manifold Insert

Consumer Goods

Jewels Towe Bracelet Design Mould for toy tyre

Photos and pictures: Arcam AB, Bego, BMW, Cookson Precious Metals, Digital
Metal, EOS, Erasteel, IK4-Lortek, Fraunhofer IFAM, Fraunhofer ILT, Fusia-Esteve, Morris
Technologies, Phenix Systems, SLM Solutions