| AVS 62nd International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Additive Manufacturing/3D Printing Focus Topic | Wednesday Sessions |
| Session AM+EM+MS+TF-WeM |
| Session: | Materials, Designs, and Applications of Additive Manufacturing |
| Presenter: | Colin Ribton, TWI Ltd., UK |
| Authors: | C.N. Ribton, TWI Ltd., UK S. del Pozo, TWI Ltd. and Brunel University, UK |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Production of high integrity components must use smart manufacturing methods to be efficient in use of scarce materials and other resources, and must ensure its environmental impact is minimized. Advanced manufacturing techniques, such as metal powder bed 3D printing , can be carried out by selective laser melting (SLM) or electron beam melting (EBM). In both cases the component is built layer by layer, with a beam as an intense energy source drawing each layer by melting powder. EBM is significantly faster than SLM and has been used to create metal parts in large quantities over the past 5 years. EBM machines have produced many tens of thousands of orthopedic implants. There are a number of key benefits in employing this manufacturing technology – including ‘complexity for free’, efficient use of material and flexibility of design. Increasingly, the aerospace industry is investigating the use of EBM for the manufacture of aircraft components and aero engine parts. However, the size of many of these components presents challenges to the EBM process in production rate and quality consistency over long build times (i.e. 150 hours).
The aim of this work is to overcome key obstacles concerning future requirements for EBM 3D printing for production of aerospace parts through the integration of two enabling technologies. The work will develop and integrate a novel plasma cathode electron source with an EBM machine focusing on realizing the enhanced capabilities of low maintenance, consistent manufacturing performance and higher productivity. Also, development and integration of an array probe device will provide quantified quality assurance of machine manufacturing readiness. The key research challenges will be the design of the electron source and optics and the development of new build procedures making best use of the new source.
The equipment will enable the wider adoption of EBM leading to efficient use of materials – particularly strategic titanium alloys and nickel based super alloys at first.