Additive manufacturing system for powder-bed fusion of metals

• Subject Area: Production Technology
• Term: Funded in 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 432804018

Additive manufacturing processes have been intensively discussed in science and industrial applications for several years now and are used in a wide variety of areas. Since 1998, the Chair of Manufacturing Technology at the University of Duisburg-Essen has been intensively examining both application-oriented and fundamental questions along the entire process chain of additive manufacturing processes on experimental test rigs and industrial systems. Over the years, the chair has continuously expanded its equipment in order to expand its ability to operate. The current and planned projects are carried out in a central laboratory, which has the necessary periphery for the use of additive manufacturing processes, in two organisationally separate working groups, the working group Polymer and the working group Metal.The currently ongoing and planned research projects of the working group Metal essentially address four different research focal points: the in-situ analysis and control of laser beam melting processes, the development of novel material systems for the laser beam melting process, basic investigations for the development of technological added values for the laser beam melting process and the simulative illustration of sub-processes of the laser beam melting process.In order to further consolidate these research focuses and to increase the experimental ability to act, the present grant proposal applies for an additive manufacturing system for powder bed-based melting of metals. The requested system makes it possible to vary the quality-determining parameters of the process in a further range, to qualify new materials, to develop in-situ measuring technology and to use it for process analysis as well as to adequately represent the boundary conditions of an industrial production for application-oriented research topics. In addition, the system contributes to intensifying the intra-university cooperation of the Chair of Manufacturing Technology, e.g. with researchers from the field of electrical engineering or nanosciences, through innovative processing concepts and methods from the field of additive manufacturing for metal processing.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: Additive Fertigungsanlage zum pulverbettbasierten Schmelzen von Metallen
• Instrumentation Group: 5740 Laser in der Fertigung
• Applicant Institution: Universität Duisburg-Essen
• Leaders: Dr.-Ing. Stefan Kleszczynski, since 10/2023; Professor Dr.-Ing. Gerd Witt, until 9/2023