Laser powder bed fusion for metal additive manufacturing: perspectives on recent developments

ABSTRACT

While significant progress has been made in laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) for metal additive manufacturing (AM), there is still limited large scale adoption of this advanced manufacturing technique by the industry. This paper covers the recent developments in L-PBF with discussions from the materials and process perspectives. High entropy alloys and high strength aluminium alloys have been identified as key materials development for L-PBF. Then, scanning strategies and multi-lasers applications for the process are also discussed. Other research trends and topics such as powder recycling, shape memory alloys and magnetic alloys are illustrated. The final part of this paper provides an outlook on the recent advancements while suggesting potential research topics for L-PBF.

KEYWORDS:

• Additive manufacturing
• 3D Printing
• powder bed fusion
• selective laser melting
• aluminium alloys
• high entropy alloys
• remelting
• multi-lasers

Acknowledgement

The authors acknowledge the support from the National Research Foundation, Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore under its Medium-Sized Centre funding scheme.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Dr S. L. Sing is a Research Fellow at the Singapore Centre for 3D Printing, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. His research interest is enabling materials development and creating strategic values for biomedical and aerospace industries through advanced manufacturing. His doctoral thesis focuses on laser powder bed fusion of a novel titanium alloy for medical applications. The doctoral thesis and related research are awarded the Best PhD Thesis Award by the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and the Springer Theses Award in 2017. Based on Web of Science (Clarivate Analytics), he has co-authored 38 peer reviewed articles in the field of additive manufacturing or 3D printing. He currently has a h-index of 19 and is also the co-inventors for two patents on the powder bed fusion process.

Associate Professor W. Y. Yeong received her BEng (Hons) and PhD in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU). Prior to joining NTU in 2013, she has worked in the manufacturing industry at supervisory functions in research and development, with key focus in medical device industry. She is now serving as Associate Chair (Students) in the school. Her portfolio also includes serving as Programme Director (Aerospace and Defence) at Singapore Centre for 3D Printing (SC3DP), Deputy Director (3D Printing) for HP-NTU Digital Manufacturing Corporate Lab, and Co-Director of NTU Institute for Health Technologies. Her main research interest is in 3D printing, bioprinting and the translational of the advanced technologies for industrial applications. Her current research topics include 3D printing of new materials, hybrid electronic-mechanical structures and bioprinting for tissue engineering. She has co-authored 2 textbooks, published more than 130 peer reviewed technical papers, with a current h-index of 31. To date, she has filed two PCT patents in new alloy and new bioink formulations, and two Singapore provisional patents on 3D printing.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Research Foundation Singapore.