A review of technological improvements in laser-based powder bed fusion of metal printers

Additive manufacturing (AM) is an emerging process that has been extremely improved in terms of technology and application in recent years. In this technology review, new industrial improvements in laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) of metals are discussed. LPBF has the lowest build rate among all AM processes that produce metals such as electron beam powder bed fusion, direct energy deposition, binder jetting and sheet lamination. The findings of the current research show that the most innovations and future directions of LPBF printers are toward increasing the speed of the process by using interchangeable feedstock chamber, closed-loop control powder handling, automated powder sieving, multi-layer concurrent printing, 2-axis coating and multi powder hoppers. To increase the speed of the process, the new improvements for transferring time and using fast lasers are presented. Another innovation in the building of LPBF printers is enhancing part quality by improving lasers with the shorter beam diameter, multi-lasers, uniform inert gas flow, accurate positioning systems, using high vacuum systems and using sensors and automation.