How Repeatable Is Laser Powder Bed Fusion?

Maybe that is not the right question. How repeatable are the steps around it? Like shipping.

How repeatable is laser powder bed fusion?

Answer: This additive manufacturing method widely used for production is as repeatable, if not more so, as any other operation used to create a near-net-shape metal part.

This fact flies in the face of what some believe about metal additive manufacturing. Here is why:

Repeatability of the operation itself is not sufficient for production. Repeatability for production requires every step in the production sequence to be performed repeatably.

While manufacturers take this for granted with other processes, AM calls for the same discipline. Laser powder bed fusion is production-ready—so long as the steps upstream and downstream from it are performed in a controlled and consistent way.

I discuss this in detail with Ankit Saharan of EOS in the video below.

I am excited for this to appear, because it is part of something more: an entire series that follows from this installment. Here, Ankit and I examine the myth that laser powder bed fusion is not repeatable. Other videos in which he and I appear expose and examine other widely held myths about metal additive manufacturing.

Here is our video on repeatability:

My favorite part of this conversation is the insight about shipping. In a process involving a relatively new part-making technology, it is this new technology that draws the blame in case of a non-repeatable outcome. However, what if a far more ordinary operation like packaging the part for shipment (in this case, between 3D printing and heat treating) is actually where the variation occurs?

Again, we take process discipline for granted when it applies to the metal part-making methods that we also take for granted. But when it comes to the newer part-making operations that bring new possibilities, even these operations still do not change the need for old-school systematic thinking across the entire process overall.

In future posts, I will share thoughts on other intriguing points I see in other videos in this series.