Metal Additive Manufacturing Conference 2019

For AM performed by DLM route, important aspects are powder characteristics such as flowability but also the morphology of the top layer itself. In the present study, the quality of the applied top layer was studied using a self-made tester for the layer building process and a digital microscope with a large depth-of-field to observe the surface of the top layer. These three-dimensional images have then been analyzed by a self-written program, which calculates specific parameters as well as the size of the particles in the top layer to rate the quality of the surface. Using this technique, the influence using different blades and varying the blade speed during the layer building process on the quality of the surface has been investigated.