Metal powder bed additive manufacturing (AM) methods - Essay Example

The paper tells that the method of selective laser sintering was carried out first by use of nylon combined with polymers when a need arose to have assistance of audio-visual prototypes and the fit-to-form research tests that were previously conducted. This process received considerable research and as a result, it was further expanded to incorporate metals and subsequently got into alloys that were used in the production of functional prototypes and also in the process of developing rapid tooling procedures.

The past practices have seen the status of SLS reconsidered based on rapid prototyping approaches, SLM with the use of phosphorous during the binding mechanism, post-processing that involved parts that were laser-sintered, metals that have undergone direct selective laser sintering, rapid tooling application, and consideration of materials that have been put to use. Substantial research has thus been done in this area and many publications made. This could be attributed to the usefulness of the technology, its commercial viability, and the kind of broad application that it has found.

The technology also has evolved to include the Electron Beam Melting, which is a technology that incorporates building parts laying layer-by-layer by use of metal powder through application of powerful beams of electron. Initially, powder-based AM manufacturing processes did construct various layers made up of plastic and metallic materials that dispersed powders on a given set substrate. These were liquid based processes. AM is also based on the same principle but curing is done by the UV light.

The advancements in these technologies have made the AM be of greater use in many industries including fabrications, biomedical, and repairs of metallic forms of components since they have the capacity to deposit metal matter on set substrates (Kruth, et al., 2003, pp.357–371). 2.0 Introduction There has been a considerable increment in new and sophisticated technologies in only a span of 20 years. These sophisticated technologies and the innovations have been able to produce some complex and freeform solids (Shiomi, et al.

, 1999, pp.237–252). Besides, the different additive or subtractive techniques are evolving quite fast into rapid manufacturing processes in the cases of mass-customized goods, which have taken a deviation from the rapid prototyping processes (Mercelis & Kruth, 2006, pp.254–265). The intermitted measurements of those components that have been fabricated through the process of additive manufacturing (AM) have the capacity to boost the in-process improvement as well as change the characterization related to the internal geometrics of materials.

These AM processes do take into account the planar layer. The layer-upon-layer aspect of various processes involving AM techniques has the ability to incorporate very simple measurements of two-dimensional nature (Mercelis & Kruth, 2006, pp.254–265). This is attributed to the fact that the current layer of the parts used is focused on a continuous basis when it comes