Metal Additive Manufacturing Conference - MAMC 2020

Additively manufactured (AM) components have to be post processed in order to achieve the required component properties. This contribution presents methods and approaches to meet the challenges of implementing an additive-subtractive process chain. Additive manufacturing processes are no longer used only for prototypes but also to build production parts. Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) technology enables metal components to be manufactured in small quantities with high productivity and material efficiency, which cannot be achieved with conventional manufacturing methods or only at considerable expense. However, post-processing of these components is usually unavoidable in order to obtain an optimal final product. Therefore, knowledge of the additively produced raw part and the processing mechanisms is required. In particular, machining processes such as milling, drilling and grinding are used for post processing. The entire process chain of manufacturing additive-subtractive components and maintaining the required form and position tolerances, surface roughness and edge zone properties is therefore relatively complex. Therefore, the properties of the resulting components and the quality characteristics within the individual manufacturing steps as well as in the interaction of successive machining processes must be considered. The implementation of such process chains therefore requires a high degree of expert knowledge. If the properties of the specified components are to be achieved in a targeted manner, in most cases a complex and iterative process qualification must be carried out, which requires a high expenditure of personnel and time. Based on these challenges, the European research project "Ad-Proc-Add" investigates additive-subtractive manufacturing chains in order to obtain a detailed understanding of the dependencies and interactions of material and component properties of additively manufactured workpieces with respect to process parameters, manufacturing strategies and boundary conditions. The aim is to be able to consciously adapt geometry, surface and boundary zone properties via additive-subtractive production chains in order to be able to meet predefined requirements. This enables the targeted design and implementation of additive-subtractive production chains in various industrial applications. This contribution uses practical examples to demonstrate the complex interrelationships of the various technologies within the additive-subtractive process chain. At the same time, the contribution presents methods and approaches to solutions that can be used to meet the challenges of implementing additive-subtractive process chains. This starts with the simulation of the component state during additive manufacturing and ends with process monitoring during post-processing. University of Stuttgart, Institute for Machine Tools (IfW)