Investigations on heat regulation of additive manufacturing processes for metal structures

By using additive manufacturing processes various powder materials can be melted and geometrically complex parts can be built. There is a need for high energy density to melt a metal powder layer locally. Therefore a laser beam is used to induce the required temperature level. To attain a more homogeneous temperature distribution a heating unit is integrated. To identify the thermal influences a model has been developed and validated by using tungsten carbide. To evaluate the achieved results different quality criteria have been determined. However, both process stability and part quality can be increased by minimizing temperature gradient mechanisms.