Metal Based Additive Manufacturing

Additive Manufacturing is a common name used for manufacturing methods that fabricate the desired part by layer-upon-layer. There is a variety of materials that can be processed by AM technologies such as polymer, metal, ceramic, biomaterial, and even concrete. Due to their superiorities, AM applications in many industries are becoming widespread. AM technologies are classified into seven groups and four of them are well suited for metal feedstock material processing. Powder Bed Fusion (PBF) uses either a laser or an electron beam as an energy source to fuse powder particles. Selective Laser Melting and Electron Beam Melting are common PBF technologies. Direct Energy Deposition is another process where the energy source generates a melt pool, and the feedstock material is deposited inside the melt pool simultaneously. In Binder Jetting, a printhead deposits a binding agent to bind powder particles together, and post-processing is required to strengthen the fabricated part. This chapter provides the working principle, main machine parts, general process parameters, materials used, and advantages and disadvantages of each technology.