Integration of the Whole Digital Chain in a Unique File for PBF-LB/M: Practical Implementation Within a Digital Thread and Its Advantages

The industrialization of AM is only possible by creating synergies with the tools of Industry 4.0. The system technology of Powder Bed Fusion with Laser beam of Metals (PBF-LB/M) reached a level of high performance in terms of process stability and material spectrum. However, the digital process chain, starting from CAD via CAM and plant-specific compilation of the manufacturing file exhibits media disruptions. The consequence is a loss of metadata. A uniform data scheme for Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM), the PBF-LB/M process itself, simulations and quality assurance is currently not realized within industry. There is no entity in the common data flows of the process chains, that enables the integration of these functionalities. As part of test bed for the quality assurance in AM within the initiative Quality Infrastructure (QI)-Digital, an integration of the CAD/CAM chain is being established. The outcome is a file in an advanced commercially available format which includes all simulations and manufacturing instructions. The information depth of this file extends to the level of the scan vectors and allows the automatic optimization and holistic documentation. In addition, the KPIs for the economic analysis are generated by compressing information into a unique file combined with the application of a digital twin (DT). The implementation and advantages are demonstrated in a case study on a multi-laser PBF-LB/M system. A build cycle containing a challenging geometry is thermally simulated, optimized, and manufactured. To verify its suitability for an Additive Manufacturing Service Platform (AMSP), the identical production file is transferred to a PBF-LB/M system of another manufacturer. Finally, the achieved quality level of the build cycle is evaluated via 3D scanning. This evaluation is carried out in the identical entity of the production file to highlight the versatility of this format and to integrate quality assurance data.