Open-source laser powder bed fusion research platform
The research platform reAM250 is an open-source powder bed fusion system developed at the Institute for Machine Tools and Industrial Management (iwb) in close collaboration with industry partners. The objective of the project is to provide the research community and industry with a full-scale system under an open-source license for the research and development on process monitoring and process control systems in powder bed fusion of metals using a laser beam (PBF-LB/M).
Project information
Initial situation
The department of additive manufacturing at the iwb investigates PBF-LB/M simulatively and experimentally. Several industrial systems are available for this purpose. However, these commercial systems are designed for serial applications and offer only limited accessibility and adaptability for specific process investigations. Therefore, an in-house PBF-LB/M machine is set up for future research activities. The open and modular design of this system is intended to offer various possibilities for basic and applied research.
Objective
The research machine reAM250 provides a full-scale system for the PBF-LB/M process under an open-source license to the additive manufacturing community. Individual components exceed the current state of the art. A modular system design and good accessibility of the components enable the continuous improvement of the system. This allows for a convenient exchange of components and the integration of further innovative modules. The design of the research machine opens up extensive opportunities in process monitoring and process control at all process scales.
Approach
For the design and development of the research machine reAM250, an innovative machine concept is developed for a rough planning. This is followed by a detailed planning of the individual components, such as the vacuum-ready process chamber, the non-contact recoater, and the process gas recirculation system, including a cyclone separator. The cooperation between students, research associates, and industrial partners provides a valuable contribution to holistic teaching at iwb. The system control is implemented via the Autodesk Machine Control Framework, which provides an industrial-grade software solution and ensures a comprehensive documentation of all system states. After setting up the individual components, the overall system is validated through the additive manufacturing of industry-relevant components. This confirms the functionality of the research machine reAM250.
Results
Key features/specifications
- High modularity for hardware updates
- Simultaneous integration of various in-axis and off-axis process monitoring sensors
- Controllable atmosphere in terms of flow, pressure, temperature, and gas type
- Adaptable recoater for new recoating and sensing strategies
- Open-source and open-architecture software and hardware design
Collaboration
The research machine reAM250 opens up unique opportunities for research on the PBF-LB/M process. The iwb is open to collaborations that leverage these potentials.
The software and hardware data can be downloaded from the GitHub project.