Laser Additive Manufacturing of Metals

Laser Additive Manufacturing (LAM) is based on a repeating layer wise manufacturing process which uses a laser beam to melt and solidify material in a powder-bed according to slices of a corresponding three dimensional computer aided design (3D-CAD) model. The stepwise production causes a reduction of complex three-dimensional (3D) geometries into simpler two-dimensional (2D) manufacturing steps [1, 2]. Thus LAM offers great potential in design and production due to its high freedom of geometry and flexibility. The basic manufacturing process is tool less. Its preferred field of application is the one-step manufacturing of complex geometries in low lot sizes, ideally with lot size 1 where conventional machining would require a longer overall production time due to a high number of processing steps [3]. This chapter gives an overview over the process basics, its parameters and the major influences on the quality of parts manufactured by LAM. It ends with design guidelines, current applications of LAM and future developments.