Metal Additive Manufacturing Conference - MAMC 2024

Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) remains a predominant process in the additive manufacturing for metals, and is widely adopted by equipment manufacturers, within research circles, and across a spectrum of industrial applications. Despite its prominence, LPBF faces inherent limitations regarding the complexity of geometries it can produce, the diversity of processable materials, and its overall productivity levels. In contrast, other emerging technologies such as Electron Beam Melting (EBM) and especially sinter-based additive manufacturing (SBAM) methods such as Metal Binder Jetting (MBJ) and Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) are increasingly being recognized for their versatility, particularly in their capacity to handle a wider array of materials beyond the typical metal alloys suitable for LPBF, thus offering solutions where LPBF may not be applicable. Additionally, emerging techniques like MoldJet (MJ), Lithography-based Metal Manufacturing (LMM), and Cold Metal Fusion (CMF) are entering the market and drawing considerable interest for their innovative process new part possibilities. To get significant market share, it is also becoming clear that intensive development is needed in auxiliary processes like heat treatment and sinter simulation. This overview highlights the current state of key sinter-based processes and compares them with LPBF and EBM. Moreover, the paper discusses potential future developments and evaluates the market prospects of various SBAM technologies.