The tower nozzle solid freeform fabrication technique

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a simple, easy to implement powder delivery strategy for solid freeform fabrication (SFF) processing.Design/methodology/approach – A specially designed “tower nozzle” located at the center of the processing area dispenses the feedstock powders continuously and uniformly onto the processing area, where powders accumulate progressively as a flat powder bed. During the dispensing, powders are selectively consolidated by melting and solidification using a laser beam which was scanned in a predefined pattern using a galvo‐mirror scan head.Findings – Experiments performed with AISI H13 steel show that the tower nozzle powder delivery strategy is suitable for SFF processing.Practical implications – Both powder delivery and laser consolidation are performed simultaneously and without interruption with simple apparatus. No powder delivery scrapers or rollers are used.Originality/value – The main characteristics of a prototype tower nozzle and the typical processing...