Method and Apparatus for Additive Manufacturing/3D Printing of Metal Parts
- Detailed Technology Description
- None
- Others
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- *Abstract
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In this paper the method, apparatus, and procedure of a new additive manufacturing (AM) technology for manufacturing 3D metal parts are introduced. Instead of using metal powders, the new method uses metal foils of different thicknesses as raw material. The procedure consists of two alternative processes: one is foil-welding by a CW (continuous wave) fiber laser with a scanner (an addition process) and the other is foil-cutting by a Q-switched UV laser with a 3-axis motion stage (a subtraction process). The reason for using two lasers, a scanner and a motion stage is to achieve simultaneously the high-speed and high-precision manufacturing. Two 3D steel parts fabricated by the proposed AM technology are presented, and the results have demonstrated that complete fusions between foil layers, without pores (voids) or micro cracks, are achieved. The cutting edges are clean without burr and the heat-affected zone (HAZ) is very small (less than 20 µm). The Vickers micro-hardness of the as-fabricated part is slightly greater than that of the raw foil. As heat-input for the laser foil-welding and foil-cutting is well controlled, the entire process and the surroundings remain at low temperatures.
- *Principal Investigator
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Name: HAI-LUNG TSAI, Professor
Department:
Name: Chen Chen, Graduate Student
Department:
Name: Yiyu Shen
Department:
- Country/Region
- USA
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