“Incremental Casting”: Support Material and Close-Loop Control of Layer Height for Direct Metal Printing with Aluminium
Final Report Abstract
“Incremental casting” refers to an additive manufacturing process in which a material is melted and ejected dropwise onto a build platform to manufacture a part. The process was already investigated as part of a previous DFG project and further developed in this project. The aim of the research project was to implement water-soluble salt support structures to extend the geometrical freedom of the process and to integrate an automatic geometry deviation compensation. The subsequent project continuation aimed to develop support structures in which salt acts only as a releasing layer, to set up a calibration process for determining optimal starting process parameters, and to investigate parts with different droplet sizes. A double print head for the simultaneous processing of aluminum and salt was developed, a suitable salt was selected, and parts with salt support structure were successfully printed. Upon examination of the aluminum-salt interface of test specimens, no significant effect of the salt on the aluminum surface was found. A new automated simulation environment was set up to numerically investigate the processing of the two materials. The developed in-situ measuring system enables the determination of the local layer height and, together with the implemented control algorithm, the adjustment of the droplet size during printing as well as the implementation of the calibration process to identify optimal starting process parameters. The tensile tests indicate advantages of release-layer support structures over solid salt support structures as well as an influence of the build material droplet size on the mechanical properties of the parts.
Publications
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Inkrementelles Gießen – Stützmaterial und Schichthöhenregelung beim direkten Metalldruck von Aluminiumlegierungen
Kirchebner B.
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Inkrementelles Gießen – Stützmaterial und Schichthöhenregelung beim direkten Metalldruck von Aluminiumlegierungen (Projektfortsetzung)
Kirchebner B.
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Wasserlösliche Stützstrukturen für die additive Verarbeitung von Aluminiumlegierungen. utg Newsletter (Ausgabe 2)
Kirchebner B.
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3D-Metalldrucker weiterentwickelt. gtm-Newsletter, Ausgabe 3
Kirchebner B. & Ploetz M.
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Analysis of salts for use as support structure in metal material jetting. Production Engineering, 15(6), 855-862.
Kirchebner, Benedikt; Rehekampff, Christoph; Tröndle, Martin; Lechner, Philipp & Volk, Wolfram
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Influence of Salt Support Structures on Material Jetted Aluminum Parts. Materials, 14(15), 4072.
Kirchebner, Benedikt; Ploetz, Maximilian; Rehekampff, Christoph; Lechner, Philipp & Volk, Wolfram
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Inline Topology Measurement of Material Jetted Metal Parts. Volume 2B: Advanced Manufacturing. American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Rehekampff, Christoph; Kirchebner, Benedikt; Krebs, Florian; Irlinger, Franz & Lueth, Tim C.
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Automatic Evaluation of Inline Surface Topology Measurement Data of Material Jetted Metal Parts for Closed Loop Control. Volume 3: Advanced Manufacturing. American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Rehekampff, Christoph; Huber, Markus; Kirchebner, Benedikt; Irlinger, Franz & Lueth, Tim C.
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Liquid Metal Jetting of Aluminum Parts with Salt Support Structures. 2023 Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium (SFF)
Kirchebner B., Weidner C., Ploetz M., Rehekampff C., Volk W. & Lechner P.
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Prozessbegleitende Geometrievermessung von Druckschichten beim Material Jetting von Aluminium. Dissertation. Technischen Universität München
Rehekampff
