Rapid manufacturing of metal components by laser forming

• Published in: International journal of machine tools & manufacture Vol. 46; no. 12; pp. 1459 - 1468
• Main Authors: Santos, Edson Costa, Shiomi, Masanari, Osakada, Kozo, Laoui, Tahar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.10.2006; Elsevier
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Exact sciences and technology; Forming; Laser forming; Mechanical engineering. Machine design; Metal components; Metals. Metallurgy; Other forming methods; Powder metallurgy. Composite materials; Production techniques; Rapid manufacturing; Technology; Laser forming; Metal components; Rapid manufacturing; Selective laser sintering; Weld cladding; Rapid tooling; Laser assisted processing; Rapid prototyping; Metal; Stratification; Laser assisted process
• ISSN: 0890-6955; 1879-2170
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijmachtools.2005.09.005

This overview will focus on the direct fabrication of metal components by using laser-forming techniques in a layer-by-layer fashion. The main driving force of rapid prototyping (RP) or layer manufacturing techniques changed from fabrication of prototypes to rapid tooling (RT) and rapid manufacturing (RM). Nowadays, the direct fabrication of functional or structural end-use products made by layer manufacturing methods, i.e. RM, is the main trend. The present paper reports on the various research efforts deployed in the past decade or so towards the manufacture of metal components by different laser processing methods (e.g. selective laser sintering, selective laser melting and 3-D laser cladding) and different commercial machines (e.g. Sinterstation, EOSINT, TrumaForm, MCP, LUMEX 25, Lasform). The materials and applications suitable to RM of metal parts by these techniques are also discussed.