Seminar Report

On

“ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING”

Zeel Patel

16BME027
Harshil Satasiya
16BME065

Guide

Prof Dhaval Shah

Mechanical Engineering Department

Institute of Technology
Nirma University
Ahmedabad – 382 481
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that, Mr Zeel Patel 16BME027 and Harshil Satasiya 16BME065 of B.Tech Sem IV has
successfully completed the report of seminar on “Additive Manufacturing”

Date:

Guide:

Head of the Department:

Contents
 Acknowledgment
I would like to show my appreciation to my guide Prof. Dhaval Shah for his advice, guidance and
great support. Without his constant guidance and support this project would not have been
successful. I would like to thank Nirma University’s authority for providing a good environment
and providing various necessary facilities for completing this project. It gave me a chance to
explore my interest and get more knowledge into this topic. Finally, an honourable mention goes
to all fellow colleagues for their kind support, understanding and helping me to finalize the project
within limited time frame.

Zeel patel

Harshil satasiya
 Abstract

Today, Additive Manufacturing technology has drawn significant interests from industry as well
as academia due to capability to make products in productive way and more efficient way.
Additive Manufacturing has potential to transform the way we make almost everything. Due to
Additive Manufacturing it is possible to direct fabrication of end-use product and component
using technologies that deposit material layer on layer. It enables the manufacture to make
complex geometrically.
List of figures
List of Table
Nomenclature
 Chapter 1. Introduction to Additive Manufacturing

1.1Introduction to AM

Additive manufacturing it is process in which digital 3D design of object is use to build component
layer by layer by deposition of material. Additive manufacturing is also known as 3D printing or
Rapid Prototyping(RP). Additive manufacturing is totally distinguished from conventional
manufacturing. In conventional manufacturing we remove material from a block to get final object
it is top down approach and also called as subtractive manufacturing. While in additive
manufacturing we add material layer by layer and it is bottom up approach. The history of rapid
prototyping can be traced to the sixties, when an engineering professor, Herbert Voelcker, question
himself about the possibilities of doing interesting things worth the computer controlled and
automatic machine tools. (1 p. 2). Voelcker’s theories changed the designing method in the
seventies, but the old the old method for designing by a computer. In 80’s Carl Deckward a
researcher from university of Texas came up with a good revelatory idea. He pioneered the layer
based manufacturing, wherein he thought of building up the model layer by layer. (1 p. 3)

1.2Definition of Additive manufacturing

Additive Manufacturing: It is defined as the process of joining material to make object from 3D
model data, usually layer upon layer, as opposed to subtractive manufacturing methodologies. (2)
1.3Basic process of Additive Manufacturing

i. Create a CAD model of the design.

ii. Convert the CAD model to STL(standard tessellation language) format.
iii. Slice the STL file into thin cross section layer.
iv. Construct the model one layer a top another.
v. Clean and finish the model.

Rapid prototyping Process Chain

CAD
modelling Tessellation
of part

post
processing
slicing

Rapid
Prototyping
system
 1.4Classification of Additive Manufacturing

Additive
Manufacturing

direct
photopolymer Material Binder Material poweder sheet energy
ization jetting jetting extrusion bed fusion lamination depostion

Brief description of various methods is given below.

i. Powder Bed Fusion:-Direct metal laser melting(DMLM), electron beam

melting(EBM), directed metal laser sintering(DMLS), selective laser melting(SLM),
selective heat sintering(SHS)this various additive printing techniques are similar to
powder bed fusion.
ii. Vat Photopolymerization:-It differs from other additive manufacturing processes
because it use liquid rather than a powder or a filament. Stereolithography(SLA), direct
light processing(DLP) are vat photopolymerization.
iii. Direct Energy Deposition:-It use highly focused thermal energy delivered via plasma
acr, electron beam or laser to fuse and melt material jetted into heat chamber from
powder metal. Most of additive process used metal, although some direct energy
deposition system use ceramic powder or polymers.
iv. Material jetting:-It is uses drop-on-demand(DOD) technology. Material jetting process
can compare with 2 inkjet printers and 3D printed objects.
v. Binder jetting:-It is similar to material jetting, although it employs powder material and
a binding agent. Nozzles of 3D printer deposit tiny droplets of a binder on layer of
powder metal.
vi. Material Extrusion:-Fused filament fabrication(FFF), or Fused deposition
modeling(FDM) are well known additive manufacturing process. These process is often
used to produce prototypes because the process is fast and inexpensive.
vii. Sheet lamination:-It use ultra-thin layer of solid material are bounded by adhesive. It
is possible to use various material in this process called laminated object
manufacturing(LOM).
 Chapter 2. Fused Deposition Modeling

2.1Introduction

Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is common additive manufacturing method for creating
polymer parts. (1)Steven scott crump is the inventor of fused deposition molding and also co-
founder of stratasys Ltd (3). S.S crump patented this technology with his wife lisa crump in
1989.Stratasys is leading manufacturer of 3D printer. In extrusion Additive Manufacturing have
nozzle dispensing molten thermal-plastic(filament) onto build platform. Due to relative movement
between the nozzle and build platform eg.we have three axes of motion x,y and z by co-ordination
you can build complex object from bottom to top. FDM printer are not much costly ($500), so it
is popular for consumer use like desktop FDM machine which you can use to print object such as
iPhone dock , toy’s etc. while industrial FDM and stratasys call fortus sell a machin cost of
$100,000 are used to print high quality and large part that why FDM is most versatile additive
manufacturing process.

2.2Principle of Operation

Since extrusion is used, there must be a chamber from which the material is extruded. The
extrusion method works on the principle that what is held in the chamber will become a liquid that
can eventually be pushed through the die or nozzle. Pellets, granules, or powder are fed through
the system under gravity or with the aid of screw. A continuous thermoplastic filament can be
pushed into reservoir chamber, thus providing a mechanism for generating a pressure for the
nozzle.
 2.2.1 Step by step process

1. The preparation: The process begin with a CAD file with appropriate orientation for
building the part. Then data is slice into 2D cross section layer along Z axis.
2. The build: The nozzle is heated to melt the plastics filament and is mounted to a mechanical
stage which moved in both horizontal and vertical direction. As the nozzle moved over
build platform in the required geometry, it deposit a thin layer of extruded plastic to form
each layer. After being squirted from nozzle it form bond with the layer below. The entire
system is carried out in chamber which is held at temperature just below the melting point
of the plastic.
3. The completion: Once all the layer are drawn and model is complete, then model is
removed from thr build platform, and support structure is removed from part.
 2.3Process Parameters

The process parameter of different machine given below (4). FDM system allow the adjustment
of several parameter like temperature of both nozzle, the build speed, the layer thickness and speed
of the cooling fan. These parameter is set by operator and it depends on types of part to be built.
The build size (mm) is depend on different type of FDM machine. The available build size of
desktop 3D printer in market is 200*200*200 mm and for industrial FDM machine are big as
1000*1000*1000mm. Desktop 3D printer is preferred because it cost is less and big part can be
broken into small parts and then assembled. The height of layer used in FDM is between 50 to 400
microns. A smaller layer height produces smoother parts while more time required to build it while
a lager layer thickness produce parts faster and at low cost.

2.4Materials

One of the major advantage of FDM is less cost of filament and wide range of availability of
filament materials. Range from commodity thermoplastics like ABS and PLA to engineering
materials like PA, TPU and PETG and high-performance thermoplastics like PEEK and PEI. The
mechanical properties and accuracy of printed part is depending on material of filament used. The
comparison of all FDM materials are listed below.
 Materials Advantage Disadvantage
ABS Good strength Tendency to warping
Good temperature resistance
PLA Good surface finishes Low impact strength
Nylon (PA) High strength Low humidity resistance
Wear resistance

PETG Good strength -

Easy to print
Non-reactive to food
TPU Very flexible Difficult to print
PEI High Strength to weight High cost
Excellent fire and chemical
resistance

2.5Defect’s in FDM

The melted plastic which is being deposited onto built-in platform it is necessary to give it enough
time to cool before printing another layer on top of it. So if thickness of layer is very thin then 3D
printer need to pause for seconds between layer else the part get deformed due to heat. Like metals
thermoplastics also expand and contract as they heated and cooled, so there is slightly change in
shape then original 3D part. Warping is most common defects in FDM. When extruded material
cool during solidification, there is slightly decrease in dimension. As different section cool at
different rate, their dimension also changes at different rate. This cause internal stresses that pull
layer upward, cause it wrap as shown in fig 2.3
 Fig 2.3

However, warping is depending on particular thermoplastics being used. In ABS (acrylonitrile

butadiene styrene) warping effect is maximum. The method to reducing warping such as build in
heat chamber this is patent by standpoint technology. And warping can also be avoided by
increasing adhesion between part and build platform.

2.6Post processing

FDM part can be finished to very high surface finish by various post processing technique like
polishing, sanding(fig-2.6.1), panting chemical, priming(fig-2.6.2), cold welding(fig-2.6.3),
expoxy coating, vapor smoothing(fig-2.6.4) and metal plating(fig-2.6.5).

Fig-2.6. 1 Fig2.6.2
 Fig-2.6.3 Fig-2.6.4

Fig-2.6.5

2.7Benefits & limitation of FDM

An advantage of using FDM technology compared to sintering and melting technologies. A

difference is also the ability to build using both thermoplastic and metals within the same build
which is not possible with other direct metal systems.

Advantage

i. True desktop manufacturing system that can be run in office environment.

ii. The process is clean, simple, easy to operate and produces no waste.
iii. Material used are very cost effective, typical part cost under US$20.
iv. A good variety of material is available including color ABS and medical ABS,
investment casting wax and elastomer.
 Limitation

i. Accuracy is relatively low and is difficult to build parts with complicated

details.
ii. Poor strength in vertical direction (tensile strength)
iii. Required more time for building mas part.
iv. The surface finish of the parts is inferior to that produced with
stereolithography.

2.8Applications

Due to wide range of FDM material available, any application can approach.

Fit, Form and Function Testing. Determine

function and performance of specific part and
help to evaluate your model.

Precise, Detailed parts

FDM produce durable models, even they

can still produce small intricate parts as
show in figure.
High Heat Application

FDM part can withstand high heat

tolerances. So FDM part can be used in
application which subjected to high heat
 Chapter 3. STEREO LITHOGRAPHY

3. 1 INTRODUCTION

Stereo lithography is the first 3D rapid prototyping process and is still the most utilized of all
types of additive manufacturing techniques being the most accurate with superior surface quality.
The term stereolithography was coined in 1986 by Charles (chunk)w.hull. he was given patent
for the same in 1986.this process is often also called photo solidification, optical fabrication,
solid imaging or solid free from fabrication.it translates computer aided designs (CAD) into solid
objects through a combination laser, photochemistry including usage of photopolymer and other
software technologies.

3. 2 PRINCIPLE OF SLA

Stereo lithography uses specialized machine known as stereo lithograph apparatus, which
converts photo curable polymer into solid object. Stereolithography uses computer, aided design
(CAD) files as its primary output. CAD files are the digital impression of the real objects, which
are created in soft wares like Autodesk inventor, Creo etc… For production through stereo
lithography this CAD files must be converted into language that SLA apparatus can easily
interpret therefore these CAD files are converted into STANDARD TESSELLATION
LANGUAGE (STL) format. These files split the CAD files into number of thin horizontal layers.
This bifurcated information is transferred to an UV laser that scans the top layer of the
photosensitive resin, thereby hardening the newly built layer attached to the platform is lowered
to just below the surface the distance of one layer, and a new layer of resin is then recoated and
scanned on the top of the previous one. This process repeats layer by layer, with successive
layers bonding to each other, until the part is complete.
 3. 3 WORKING

SLAs have four main parts: a tank that can be filled with liquid plastic (photopolymer), a perforated platform that is
lowered into the tank, an ultraviolet (UV) laser and a computer controlling the platform and the laser.

in the initial step of the SLA process, a thin layer of photopolymer (usually between 0.05-0.15
mm) is exposed above the perforated platform. The UV laser hits the perforated platform,
"painting" the pattern of the object being printed. The UV-curable liquid hardens instantly when
the UV laser touches it, forming the first layer of the 3D-printed object. Once the initial layer of
the object has hardened, the platform is lowered, exposing a new surface layer of liquid polymer.
The laser again traces a cross section of the object being printed, which instantly bonds to the
hardened section beneath it.This process is repeated again and again until the entire object has
been formed and is fully submerged in the tank. The platform is then raised to expose a three-
dimensional object. After it is rinsed with a liquid solvent to free it of excess resin, the object is
baked in an ultraviolet oven to further cure the plastic.
 3. 4 PROCESS PARAMETERS

Several process parameter define the accuracy of this process, some of which are mentioned
below:

• Starting material , normally it is liquid monomer but special purpose photopolymers can
be used for special applications

• Thickness of the part to be manufactured ,generally it is observed that thinner parts

provide better dimensional accuracy ,high resolution and is capable of generating more
intricate shapes but it takes longer processing time.

• Type of laser used for scanning, typical scan speeds typically of 500 mm to 2500 mm/s
have been achieved

3. 5 MATERIAL
Type Advantage Application

Accura 60 plastic • Durable and stiff • auto motive design

• fast built speed • lab ware and lenses

Accura 55 plastic • Durable and rigid • Automotive interior

• High accuracy parts
• Electronic component

Somos11122 • Low viscosity • Making lenses

transparent plastic • Tough and water resistant • Making concept
model
Accura bluestone • High temperature • Water handling
plastic resistance product such as pump
and impeller
Accura 25 plastic • High flexibilty • Use in making toy
• Making concept
model and master
patterns.
 Accura 25 plastic accura 55 plastic

Accura 60 plastic Accura bluestone plastic

Somos 11122 transparent plastic

 3. 6 DEFECTS IN SLA

The melted plastic which is being deposited onto built-in platform it is necessary to give it enough
time to cool before printing another layer on top of it. So if thickness of layer is very thin then 3D
printer need to pause for seconds between layer else the part get deformed due to heat. Like metals
thermoplastics also expand and contract as they heated and cooled, so there is slightly change in
shape then original 3D part. Warping is most common defects in stereolithography. When extruded
material cool during solidification, there is slightly decrease in dimension. As different section
cool at different rate, their dimension also changes at different rate. This cause internal stresses
that pull layer upward, cause it wrap as shown

Another common defect observed in stereo lithography is curl distortion. Curl distortion mainly
occurs due internal stresses being developed inside the material during photopolymerisation. Curl
cane be defined as any out of plane deflection of a flat layer and is a result of inter layer shear
stresses generated during solidification processes. Curl distortion mainly depends on properties of
photopolymer used, type of post processing process used and the part design

Some of the other minute defect observed in this process is porosity, which mainly arises due to
improper cooling and inefficient scanning systems.And post processing technique are same as
Fused Deposition Molding(FDM)
3. 7 LIMITATION

• Only photo sensitive materials can be used for this process thereby narrowing the
range of materials that can be used in this process.
• The resin which is used in this material as primary input may absorb excess amount
of water resulting into defects like curling and warping.
• The process is quite costly.
• Post curing is generally required in this process to get required strength and
toughness.
• Needs high maintenance in the form of periodical fine-tuning of optical sensor to
maintain its efficiency.
• Area application restricted due to limited no of materials that can be used in this
process.

3. 8 APPLICATION

• Prototype for concept model.

• Form and fit testing.
• Plastic part rapid tooling patterns.
• Metal part rapid tooling patterns.
• In the medical field.
• Threaded inserts.
 Chapter 4. SLECTIVE LASER SINTERING

4. 1 INTRODUCTION TO SLS

Selective laser sintering (SLS) is similar to stereo lithography and is used to create solid like real
objects, layer by layer from plastic, ceramic powdered or pre- coated sands that are sintered using
laser technology.it uses the basic concept of all additive manufacturing techniques of deposition
of material layer by layer. Prof.Dave Bourell developed this process in the department of
mechanical engineering at the University of Texas at the Austin 1980 in the laboratory of prof. Joe
beamen with student Carl Deckar d and with guidance in laser technology and materials. SLS
uses high-energy source laser to fuse little particles of percolated sand and mold it into 3-D object.
SLS selectively fuses the powdered material over layer of powder bed by scanning in both X and
Y directions. The data required for scanning comes from CAD files of the solid object.

4. 2 CLASSIFICATION OF SLS

SLS can be broadly classified into two type:

• DIRECT SLS
• INDIRECT SLS

DIRECT SLS

Direct SLS uses metal powder without the application of binder. Thus there is no need of post
processing activities in the case of direct SLS. Direct SLS of composite powder blend can be put
into use for the production of metal parts. This process can be used to generate a composite in
which low melting component act as a matrix and high melting component act as dispersed phase.
The only disadvantage of this process is components produced showcase the properties of its
weakest composite phase thereby lacking in mechanical properties required for heavy-duty
applications.

INDIRECT SLS

Indirect SLS involves the use of polymer binder along with powder mixture to produce green part
(that is it is enriched with water). The metal powder is coated with the polymer, under the influence
of high energy delivered by laser this polymer diffuses with the powdered particles to produce the
green part. This green part5 is p0ost processed by sintering and infiltration to produce high density
with good amount of strength metal part.

4. 3 PRINCIPLE OF SLS

The powder is smeared over the surface of the built cylinder with the help of a roller. The piston,
which is the part of the system, moves down one object layer thickness to accommodate the layer
of powder. Laser focuses its energy on powder bed thereby slightly raising the temperature to
cause sintering, means welding without melting. For the next layer ,piston moves down along with
the formed object and the powder is spread with levelling roller for next layer .the above mentioned
process is repeated until the entire object is formed. SLS directly uses information form CAD files
to create the object unlike the SLA, which requires CAD file to be converted into STL format.
Thus, it eliminates most of the pre-processes required. Here generally CO2 laser is used as it
provides concentric heat source. The temperature in the entire chamber is maintained little above
the melting temperature of the powder. The interaction of the laser with the powder raises its
temperature little above its melting temperature thereby helping the melted particles to fuse
properly with themselves and to the particles of the previous layer to generate the solid. Each layer
of the building process contains the cross –sections of many parts. The next layer is built directly
on the top of the sintered layer after an additional layer of powder is deposited via roller mechanism
on the top of previously formed layer.
 4. 4 PROCEDURE

• First of all a thin layer of heat-fusible powder is deposited onto the part-building chamber
• Bottom-most cross-sectional slice of the CAD part under fabrication is selectively drawn
on the layer of the powder by a heat –generating CO2 laser. The interaction of the laser
beam elevates the temperature of to the point of melting, fusing the powder particles to
form solid mass. The intensity of the laser beam is modulated to melt powder only in the
areas defined by part’s geometry. Surrounding powder remains a loose compact and
serves as supports
• When the cross-section is completely drawn, an additional layer of powder is deposited
via a roller mechanism on the top of the previously scanned layer. This prepares the next
layer for scanning.
• Steps 2 and 3 are repeated, with each layer fusing to the layer below it. Successive layers
of powder are deposited and the process is repeated until the part is completed. As SLS
materials are in powdered form,the powder not melted or fused during the process serves
as a customized, built in support structure. There is no need to create support structures
within the CAD design prior to or during processing and thus no support structure to
remove the part when it is completed.
• After the SLS process, the part is removed from the build chamber and loose powder
simply falls away. SLS parts may then require some post processing or secondary
finishing, such as sanding, lacquering and painting, depending upon the application of the
prototype built.

4. 5 Process parameters

SLS process depends on no of parameters ,infact the final accuracy , distortion and surface
finish along with certain mechanical properties such as stiffness depend upon energy output
on the powder bed.Infact the energy output primarily depends upon 3 factors as shown in
the diagram below

• Laser parameter

Laser energy can be calculated on the basis of the formulae prescribed below:

Laser density=[J/mm2]=P/D*V

Where P=laser power

D=Diameter of laser beam

V=laser scanning speed

• Laser power

Laser power can be defined, as power transmitted by laser beam to the powder bed. As it
is clear from the above formulae that laser energy increases with increase in laser power
therefore care should be taken that laser power is enough to bring the particles of powder
bed to melting temperature for proper sintering.
• Spot Size

Spot size is same as that diameter of laser beam. Generally, it is observed that sintered area
on the powder bed is larger than spot diameter. Since spot diameter has inverse relation
with the total energy output. Hence larger the spot diameter lesser would be the energy
output and less dimensional accuracy would be achieved.

• Scanning speed

Scanning speed is basically the speed with which laser beam is brought to the powder bed
. As it has inverse relation with the total energy output henece larger scanning speed will
lead to low dimensional accuracy and poor surface finish.

4. 6 Material properties

Wide range of materials are used in the SLS some of which are polyamide, metals, Nylon
and polycarbonate.

Absorption and Reflectivity

The efficiency of the SLS process primarily depends upon the absorption coefficient of the
powder bed. When the laser beam is incident on the powder particles, some of it is reflected
back while some gets absorbed and the rest is transmitted . so more the absorption
coefficient more will be the energy absorbed and faster would be the melting hence the
process becomes fast and more productive.
property Signification of laser sintering process

Particle size distribution Sinterability, surface roughness

Flowability Uniform spreading of powder layer

Melting point Indicator of energy requirement

Specific heat, thermal conductivity Heat transfer in powder bed

Void fraction Residual porosity in prototypes

Material Advantage Application

Polyamide • Resistance to heat and • Functional engineering

corrosion parts

Thermoplastic • High elongation • Making sports shoe

elastomer • Resist abrasion and • engineering seals
impermeable to water

Polycarbonate • increase productivity • used in investment

• fine features casting pattern

Nylon • Widely available • Use for making intricate

• Chemical resistance parts

Metal • High durability • Use to make core inserts

• Therma conductivity preproduction tool for
injection moulding
4. 7 Defects

As SLS have wide range of process parameters such as laser power,scanning pattern ,layer
thickness etc.. any devition from optimum arrangement of this parameters leads to defects
being induced in the material. Some of the common defects observed in SLS are
porosities, incomplete fusion holes and cracks.
• Porosities
Porosities are characterized by small spherical holes of diameter roughly
about100 micro millimeter as shown in the figure below

Porosity mainly arises due to lower packing density of the metal powder. Due to low
packing density, gas molecules are present inside the gap between two atoms of the
powder. During melting of the powder these gases escape these spaces and reside in
the weld pool formed. However, as the solidification rate is too high hence this gas are
unable to escape hence leading to porosity. Porosity is also induced when powders of
hollow structure are used.

• Incomplete Fusion Hole

Incomplete fusion holes can be also called as the lack of fusion defects and arises
mainly due to the lack of energy input during SLS process. There are 2 types of
incomplete fusion holes a) poor bonding due to insufficient molten metal during
solidification process b) defects with un melted metal powders.

In the SLS laser, selectively melts powder bed point-by-point, line-by-line and layer
by layer to generate entire solid mass. If the laser energy is insufficient than it leads
to formation of molten metal pool with less width. Which leads to insufficient
overlap between the scan tracks, which leads to formation of un melted powder
particles between the scan tracks .in the deposition of new layer it is not possible to
fully re melt these powder leading to the creation of incomplete fusion holes. Also
due to less avaibilty of the input energy, the penetration is less leading to incomplete
bonding between the adjacent powder particles.

• Cracks
 In SLS process the metal powder particles face high temperature and high
solidification rates due localized energy input by laser. This leads to formation of
temperature gradient and large residual thermal stresses.and the combined effect
of these two factors leads formation of cracks

4. 8 Post processes

Various post-processing techniques are employed in SLS to get the desired dimensional
accuracy and surface finish some of which are described below :

• Stander finish

This is the default processing technique employed in SLS. In this process all un sintered
powder is removed through a jet of compressed air and then plastic bead blasting is used
to remove any un melted powder grains residing on the solid object. Then surface of the
object is given a smooth finish through sand paper

• Media trumbled (vibro polished)

This process is used to give a fine surface finish to solid part. The solid object is kept in a
tumbler which contains small ceramic chips. This chips are made to vibrate around the
solid obect dueto which outer layer of the material gets removed leading to exposed shining
surface.this process also helps in rounding of the sharp edges.
 • Dyeing

Dyeing is one of the most effective method to fill in the porosities of the SLS part. The
object that needs to be dyed is kept in a hot bath containing the desired color. Using the
color bath ensures that both external and internal surface of the parts is covered.
 • Spray paint and lacquering

SLS parts are generally coated with a lacquer or a paint is sprayed on them. This process
results in glossy surface finish .Lacquer coatings can help to enhance the surface hardness,
wear resistant as well as water resistance and limit the marks and smudges on the surface
of the object.

4. 9 Advantage of SLM

• this process produces a part having good surface finish and accurate feature
details
• Material used in this process are inexpensive
• Supports are needed for the work, in fact the powder particle itself act as supports
• Produces the part which are relatively stress free
• Production speed is high
• Wide variety of the material can be used starting form flexible and rigid plastics
to fully dense metals and the casting pattern
• LIMITATIONS
 • Porosity is generally observed in the SLS manufactured parts
• Part density may vary
• Material changes require cleaning of machine
• The first layer may require a base anchor
• to reduce the thermal stress

4. 10 Application of SLM

This process is majorly used to manufacture

• Parts for mechanical and thermal test

• Series of small plastic parts
• Large and complex functional parts
• Master pattern for secondary and casting process
• Direct rapid prototype of tools for molds for small or short production runs.
.
 References

1. Ramesh. A textbook of rapid prototyping. new delhi : Ane

bboks pvt.ltd, 2015. p. 45.

2. additive manufacturing. wohlers associates. [Online]

https://wohlersassociates.com/additive-manufacturing.html.

3. DeMarche. DeMarche2007comapnylist. nve. [Online] 2007.

https://www.nve.com/inthenews/DeMarche2007CompanyLis
t.htm.

4. Ramesh. A textbook of rapid prototying. p. 52.