Metal Additive Manufacturing Conference 2019

Additive manufacturing provides opportunities for improving properties of existing alloys and developing new material compositions. Materials produced with powder bed fusion (PBF) often exhibit unique microstructures, due to the small melt pool and rapid solidification associated with PBF. Unfortunately, most commercial PBF systems are intended for production only. They are too big for small scale experiments, have limitations in terms of beam control and cannot be modified to the needs of an R&D user. This paper describes Freemelt ONE, a new electron beam PBF system for R&D, providing benefits such as: - open source software offering unsurpassed freedom to explore innovative melting strategies - small build volume and low powder consumption - short turnaround time - high tolerance to powder quality - outstanding vacuum for highly reactive materials - very hot powder bed, >2000 °F (1100 °C), beneficial for crack-sensitive materials - easy attachment of R&D equipment, e.g. RGAs or X-ray spectrometers, giving endless possibilities for in-situ process monitoring.