Development of software-based pre-processing for a centrifugal laser powder bed fusion process

Procedia CIRP, vol. 143, pp. 590–594

Abstract

Laser powder bed fusion (PBF-L) is constrained by limited build rates, impeding high-volume production adoption. A new machine approach, centrifugal PBF-L, also called RotaPrint, with rotating powder bed and coaxial rotating laser radiation is introduced. The resulting centrifugal acceleration becomes a tunable parameter that eliminates the need for gravity. A prototype system has been built and is in use. To generate single prismatic components and not only be limited to rotation symmetrical components, synchronized laser control and toolpaths, as well as cylindrical slicing of CAD models is required. Furthermore, the cylindrical machine design requires the coordinate transformation from cartesian to polar coordinates. This work introduces the developed data pre-processing for RotaPrint technology.

Authors 4

1. Jan-Hendrik Koch corresponding Aachen Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT

   Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT

   Affiliation as printed

   Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT, Steinbachstrasse 17, 52074, Aachen, Germany

2. Florian Hüsing Aachen Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT

   Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT

   Affiliation as printed

   Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT, Steinbachstrasse 17, 52074, Aachen, Germany

3. Henning Janssen Aachen Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT

   Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT

   Affiliation as printed

   Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT, Steinbachstrasse 17, 52074, Aachen, Germany

4. Christian Brecher Aachen Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering WZL

   Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT, Steinbachstrasse 17, 52074, Aachen, Germany

   Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering WZL of the RWTH Aachen University, Campus-Boulevard 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany