👏 Congratulations to the team from Aalen University - LaserApplicationCenter (LAZ)! We're excited to celebrate the publication of these outstanding results from SmartPro’s AddFunk project! ❓ The researchers addressed a significant challenge in laser powder bed fusion, a method used to additively manufacture metal components. During this process, the material undergoes extreme temperature fluctuations, causing it to expand and contract – leading to high residual stresses and defects in the final product. Currently, stress relief is mitigated by heat treatment in a furnace, which is an energy-intensive and imprecise solution ♨️ 💫 This project investigated an alternative method. Using a recently developed closed-loop laser-based heat treatment, the researchers guided a laser beam in a meandering scanning pattern over the surface of the component, heating it precisely to a defined surface temperature. The result? Structural irregularities are drastically reduced – ensuring higher quality and more reliable components. As an additional advantage, this new method requires 15 times less energy than the standard procedure, contributing to SmartPro’s aim to improve energy efficiency in #production! ⚡️ 🔍 For more information check out the post below! #Sustainability #Research #AppliedResearch
🎉 Research Paper Alert 🎉 𝗔 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗿-𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗲𝗻𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗳 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝗱𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘀! Big congratulations to Robin W., Markus Hofele, Johannes Neuer and Harald Riegel from our institute and Patrick Hegele from the Technische Universität München for this amazing achievement! 🌟 📢 The team has developed a closed-loop controlled laser-based heat treatment with temperature feedback for metal parts produced by the laser powder bed fusion of metals process (PBF-LB/M). Using a TRUMPF scan head the laser was guided in a meandering scanning pattern over the surface of the parts. In a closed control loop, the temperature was continuously monitored by a Sensortherm GmbH pyrometer and maintained at a predefined target value by dynamically regulating the laser power. This innovative method reduces residual stresses 𝙞𝙣 𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙨 and therefore displacement after the part break-up. It is remarkable that the process can almost 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆 relieve residual stresses in components with a material thickness up to 3 mm and that the displacement after cutting of the support structures is even 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 than after conventional furnace heat treatment. But that's not all – this laser-based approach uses up to 15 times 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 energy than a comparable furnace heat treatment, making a major contribution to resource efficiency in manufacturing. ⚡ ♻️ 🌱 Check out the 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗽𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗿 entitled “Laser-Based Closed-Loop Controlled Heat Treatment for Residual Stress Relief of Additively Manufactured AlSi10Mg Components” published in Wiley'𝘀 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹𝘀 for more details: https://lnkd.in/eShBA9jA We thank the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung for funding of this work as part of the program "FH-Impuls" (Project SmartPro, Subproject AddFunk)! 🎓 #LaserHeatTreatment #StressRelief #AdditiveManufacturing #LPBF #Innovation #technology #sustainability #ResourceEfficiency #ManufacturingExcellence Hochschule Aalen - Technik und Wirtschaft SmartPro Kooperationsnetzwerk