Module IV

Powder Based AM Processes

OR
Powder Bed Fusion (PBF)
 Introduction
 Developed at the University of Texas at Austin, USA,
selective laser sintering (SLS) was the first
commercialized PBF process
 All PBF processes share a basic set of characteristics.
These include one or more thermal sources for
inducing fusion between powder particles, a method
for controlling powder fusion to a prescribed region
of each layer, and mechanisms for adding and
smoothing powder layers
 The most common thermal sources for PBF are
lasers. PBF processes which utilize lasers are known
as laser sintering (LS) machines
 Two varieties: Polymer Lase Sintering(pLS) and metal
laser sintering(mLS)
 LS processes were originally developed to produce plastic
prototypes using a point-wise laser scanning technique
 This approach was subsequently extended to metal and
ceramic powders; additional thermal sources are now
utilized; and variants for layer-wise fusion of powdered
materials are being commercially introduced
 As a result, PBF processes are widely used worldwide,
have a broad range of materials (including polymers,
metals, ceramics, and composites) which can be utilized,
and are increasingly being used for direct manufacturing
of end-use products, as the material properties are
comparable to many engineering-grade polymers,
metals, and ceramics.
Schematic of Selective Laser Sintering Process
 Working Principle
 As shown in Fig pLS fuses thin layers of powder
(typically 0.075– 0.1 mm thick) which have been
spread across the build area using a counter-rotating
powder leveling roller.
 The part building process takes place inside an
enclosed chamber filled with nitrogen gas to
minimize oxidation and degradation of the powdered
material
 The powder in the build platform is maintained at an
elevated temperature just below the melting point
and/or glass transition temperature of the powdered
material. Infrared heaters are placed above the build
platform to maintain an elevated temperature
around the part being formed, as well as above the
feed cartridges to preheat the powder prior to
spreading over the build area
 Working Principle
 In some cases, the build platform is also heated using
resistive heaters around the build platform. This
preheating of powder and maintenance of an elevated,
uniform temperature within the build platform is
necessary to minimize the laser power requirements of
the process (with preheating, less laser energy is
required for fusion) and to prevent warping of the part
during the build due to non-uniform thermal expansion
and contraction (resulting in curling)
 Once an appropriate powder layer has been formed and
preheated, a focused CO2 laser beam is directed onto the
powder bed and is moved using galvanometers in such a
way that it thermally fuses the material to form the slice
cross section
 Working Principle
 Surrounding powder remains loose and serves as
support for subsequent layers, thus eliminating the
need for the secondary supports which are necessary
for vat photopolymerization processes
 After completing a layer, the build platform is
lowered by one layer thickness and a new layer of
powder is laid and leveled using the counter-rotating
roller
 The beam scans the subsequent slice cross section.
This process repeats until the complete part is built
 A cool-down period is typically required to allow the
parts to uniformly come to a low-enough
temperature that they can be handled and exposed
to ambient temperature and atmosphere
 Powder Fusion Mechanism
There are four different fusion mechanisms which are
present in PBF processes
1)Solid-state sintering,
2)Chemically induced binding,
3)Liquid-phase sintering (LPS), and
4)Full melting
 Solid State Sintering
Sintering, in its classical sense, indicates the fusion of
powder particles without melting (i.e., in their “solid state”)
at elevated temperatures. This occurs at temperatures
between one half of the absolute melting temperature and
the melting temperature
 Solid State Sintering
 The driving force for solid-state sintering is the
minimization of total free energy, Es, of the powder
particles. The mechanism for sintering is primarily
diffusion between powder particles
 Surface energy Es is proportional to total particle
surface area SA, through the equation Es = γs x SA
(where γs is the surface energy per unit area for a
particular material, atmosphere, and temperature)
 When particles fuse at elevated temperatures (see
Fig. 5.2), the total surface area decreases, and thus
surface energy decreases
 Solid State Sintering
 Total surface area of the powder bed decreases, the rate
of sintering slows. To achieve very low porosity levels,
long sintering times or high sintering temperatures are
required.
 The use of external pressure, as is done with hot isostatic
pressing, increases the rate of sintering
 As total surface area in a powder bed is a function of
particle size, the driving force for sintering is directly
related to the surface area to volume ratio for a set of
particles. The larger the surface area to volume ratio, the
greater the free energy driving force. Thus, smaller
particles experience a greater driving force for necking
and consolidation, and hence, smaller particles sinter
more rapidly and initiate sintering at lower temperature
than larger particles
 Chemically Induced Sintering
 Chemically induced sintering involves the use of
thermally activated chemical reactions between two
types of powders or between powders and
atmospheric gases to form a by-product which binds
the powders together
 This fusion mechanism is primarily utilized for
ceramic materials
 Examples of reactions between powders and
atmospheric gases include: laser processing of SiC in
the presence of oxygen, whereby SiO2 forms and
binds together a composite of SiC and SiO2
 Chemically Induced Sintering
 Raw materials which exothermically react to form
the desired by-product are pre-mixed and heated
using a laser. By adding chemical reaction energy to
the laser energy, high-melting-temperature
structures can be created at relatively low laser
energies
 One common characteristic of chemically induced
sintering is part porosity. As a result, post-process
infiltration or high-temperature furnace sintering to
higher densities is often needed to achieve
properties that are useful for most applications
 Liquid Phase Sintering
 LPS is a term used extensively in the powder
processing industry to refer to the fusion of powder
particles when a portion of constituents within a
collection of powder particles become molten, while
other portions remain solid
 In LPS, the molten constituents act as the glue which
binds the solid particles together
 As a result, high temperature particles can be bound
together without needing to melt or sinter those
particles directly
 Full Melting
 Full melting is the mechanism most commonly
associated with PBF processing of engineering metal
alloys (stainless steel, Ti etc) and semi-crystalline
polymers(Nylon Polyamide)
 In these materials, the entire region of material
subjected to impinging heat energy is melted to a depth
exceeding the layer thickness
 Thermal energy of subsequent scans of a laser or
electron beam (next to or above the just-scanned area) is
typically sufficient to re-melt a portion of the previously
solidified solid structure; and thus, this type of full
melting is very effective at creating well-bonded, high-
density structures from engineering metals and polymers
 Limitation
Total part construction time can take longer
than other additive manufacturing processes
because of the preheat and cool-down cycles
involved
Larger particle sizes facilitate easier powder
processing and delivery, but hurt surface
finish, minimum feature size and minimum
layer thickness.
 Benefits
 During part building, loose powder is a sufficient
support material for polymer PBF. This saves significant
time during part building and post-processing, and
enables advanced geometries that are difficult to post-
process when supports are necessary
 PBF can process a very wide variety of materials, in
contrast to many other AM processes. Although it is
easier to control the processing of semi crystalline
polymers, the PBF processing of amorphous polymers
has been successful. Many metals can be processed; as
mentioned, if a metal can be welded, it is a good
candidate for mLS. Some ceramic materials are
commercially available, but quite a few others have
been demonstrated in research.
 3 D Printing
Introduction:
 All AM Processes discussed are the layer wise
deposition for building the parts
 Building of the parts directly in three dimensional
space is possible.
 Once such techniques are fully developed the time
required for part fabrication be reduced significantly.
 In all two dimensional layer by layer techniques the
lower layer has to be created before a higher potion
is build
 But in three dimensional printing, it is not necessary.
 3 D Printing
Introduction:
 Thus flexibility in shape creation is is more, through
the programming the whole process
 Direct three dimensional techniques can be classified
based on whether the shape generation is done
1) Point by point
2) Surface by surface
3) Whole volume is created simultaneously
Basic feature of three dimensional printing