Additive Manufacturing for Serial Production of High-Performance Metal Parts

Abstract

Additive manufacturing (AM) is a process that builds parts layer-by-layer from sliced CAD models to form solid objects. Just a few years ago, 3D printing was primarily used for rapid prototyping. Due to improvements in performance, AM has the potential to become a new key technology for serial production. Innovative advances like selective laser melting (SLM) enable the manufacture of high-performance metal parts. Modern printers contain several lasers, which enables the production of multiple parts at the same time. AM includes much more than just 3D printing: It’s an end-to-end process, from design and simulation to 3D printing to post-processing.