Contact-Free Support Structures for Part Overhangs in Powder-Bed Metal Additive Manufacturing

作者：Kenneth G. Cooper, Phillip Steele, Bowen Cheng, Kevin Chou · 发表于：Inventions · 年份：2017 · DOI：10.3390/inventions3010002 · 被引用次数：94 · 研究领域：Additive Manufacturing Materials and Processes、Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing Technologies、Welding Techniques and Residual Stresses

This study investigates the feasibility of a novel concept, contact-free support structures, for part overhangs in powder-bed metal additive manufacturing. The intent is to develop alternative support designs that require no or little post-processing, and yet, maintain effectiveness in minimizing overhang distortions. The idea is to build, simultaneously during part fabrications, a heat sink (called “heat support”), underneath an overhang to alter adverse thermal behaviors. Thermomechanical modeling and simulations using finite element analysis were applied to numerically research the heat support effect on overhang distortions. Experimentally, a powder-bed electron beam additive manufacturing system was utilized to fabricate heat support designs and examine their functions. The results prove the concept and demonstrate the effectiveness of contact-free heat supports. Moreover, the method was tested with different heat support parameters and applied to various overhang geometries. It is concluded that the heat support proposed has the potential to be implemented in industrial applications.