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PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT, TECHNICAL DESIGN: Design Guidelines for 3D Printing of Metal Components by Selective Laser Melting

Master thesis project on the design capabilities and limitations of the selective laser melting (SLM) process.

– Publicerad den 3 May 2022

Background

Additive manufacturing (AM) is relatively a young production technology. However, it is rapidly growing. In recent years, AM has received great attention and; development in this area has been extremely fast. Despite the rapid growth of the industry and development of new and more efficient AM machines, the technology has not been adopted as fast (as one would think) by the manufacturing sector; particularly for production of metallic components. One reason for the sluggish acceptance of metal 3D printing is insufficient knowledge of the capabilities of this manufacturing method for production of complex and light weight components.

Objective

The goal of this master thesis is to establish an understanding of the design capabilities and limitations of the selective laser melting (SLM) process. In this project emphasis is placed on SLM process.

Currently, SLM is mainly used in aerospace, tooling and medical industry. Similar to all AM processes, in SLM, components are manufactured layer by layer. First, a thin layer of metal powder is spread on the build platform. Next, the laser beam selectively melts and fuses regions of the powder bed based on the original CAD model. Subsequently, the building platform is lowered and the next layer of powder is added. The process continues until the component is complete.

Work Description

The thesis project is a collaboration between Swerea IVF AB (Mölndal) and the Division of Product Development in Lund University of Technology. However, the master student will belong to Lund University.

A component with special features (e.g. thin walls, angles, over hangs, holes, etc) will be designed and then 3D printed using the SLM equipment at Swerea IVF. The printed component will then be examined by the student using the facilities (e.g. 3D scanner) in Lund University.

Contact

Axel Nordin, axel.nordin@design.lth.se