Metal Additive Manufacturing Conference - MAMC 2020

The market of powder bed fusion systems is still characterized by machines that are basically designed 10 to 20 years ago. A completely new technique (SLEDM) has been developed and patented at the Institute of Production Engineering at Graz University of Technology. The unique system works with high-power LED energy sources and a very low amount of powder. The build direction is from the top to the bottom. The paper presents the benefits of the new system and gives a detailled description of the new machine. First test objects and their structural compositions are presented. Because of the variable melting spot diameter the cooling rates are not so high comparable to the laser based powder bed fusion systems. Finally some applications and modifications of the SLEDM-machine are explained that make the machine convenient for mass production of fuel cell bipolar plates.