According to big data on metal 3D printing technology, DED powder energy deposition additive manufacturing technology usually gives the industry the impression that it is only used for the repair of large parts. It seems to be difficult to compete with the market dominance of the current mainstream PBF, especially LPBF laser powder bed fusion technology. Compete with each other. However, the latest developments show that this technology is moving towards being used in product manufacturing, such as “First!” As shown in the article “U.S. Air Force Laboratory Develops 3D Printed Single-Block Rocket Engine Thrust Chamber”, DED powder energy deposition additive manufacturing technology can create the largest build box volume to date for large components such as rocket thrusters, and can print about 210 cm high. parts, which are much larger than what can be made with technologies such as laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) additive manufacturing processes. In addition, DED powder energy deposition additive manufacturing technology can also reduce powder investment and reduce material waste. Engineers can also implement alloy blending in real-time for multi-alloy structures to take advantage of the strength, weight and performance benefits of next-generation superalloys.
“With laser cladding 3D printing for mass production, many times we are ten times faster”, Ponticon, Germany. The startup has established a partnership with KIT – Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, as well as RWTH DAP, RWTH Aachen University Digital The Additive Manufacturing Production Institute has teamed up to develop a device that can be used to 3D print parts extremely quickly, with the goal of generating hundreds of millions in sales.
High-speed freeform material deposition additive manufacturing
These unique capabilities of DED powder energy deposition additive manufacturing technology can handle complex engine designs, require fewer iterations, and take full advantage of the shape optimization that 3D printing can provide, using lighter materials such as advanced metal alloys and Composite materials for rapid manufacturing. DED powder energy deposition additive manufacturing technology can be combined with other technologies common in Industry 4.0, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, digital twins, 3D scanning and CAD computer-aided design. The integration of these different technologies will facilitate the transition of rocket engine hardware from traditional manufacturing methods to automated manufacturing processes. – Ponticon
Fast and precise
3D printing has become widely accepted for building prototypes – but in many cases, additive manufacturing is still too slow for industrial mass production. Ponticon aims to achieve breakthroughs with a new technology that enables objects to be coated and 3D printed with exceptional speed and precision, a means of digital manufacturing that could generate hundreds of millions in sales revenue over the long term.
3D printing has long been seen as a huge beacon of hope for the industry. It allows the production of completely new forms, which is one of the reasons why it has been used to manufacture components for the aerospace industry. However, there are still many challenges that need to be overcome for DED powder energy deposition additive manufacturing to manufacture parts for the aviation industry.
Initially, Ponticon designed DED powder energy deposition additive manufacturing equipment for the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology (Fraunhofer ILT). The ultra-high-speed laser material deposition (EHLA) process developed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology (Fraunhofer ILT), originally used for coating metal parts, is being further developed on this machine.
In contrast to traditional laser material deposition, the metal powder material in the ultra-high-speed laser material deposition (EHLA) process is melted by the laser before impacting the part to be coated. Therefore, by the time the metallic material reaches the component, which is rapidly rotating around its own axis, it is already in a liquid state. Today, the process is used to apply protective layers to protect highly stressed parts, such as those in the aerospace or automotive sectors, protecting them from corrosion and wear in harsh operating environments. Until a few years ago, hard chrome plating was the main method used in such cases. However, EU approval of the process has been subject to strict conditions since September 2017, as the electrochemical deposition of toxic chromium is harmful to the environment.
However, due to the required rotational symmetry, previously it was only certain that components such as hydraulic cylinders, rollers or brake discs could be coated in two dimensions using EHLA.
Therefore, in early 2018, Fraunhofer ILT began looking for partners to continue developing EHLA for other more complex shapes to meet the conformal needs of 3D printing. 3D Science Valley learned that the pE3D system developed by Ponticon exactly meets these requirements. At the Formnext show in Germany in 2022, ponticon will present for the first time its pE3D additive system for additive manufacturing and the first use of the dynamic material deposition (DMD) process to coat and repair complex-shaped metal workpieces. It combines high machining speeds with extremely high precision and high flexibility in alloy composition selection. This more advanced process is called 3D EHLA: parts no longer have to be rotationally symmetrical, but can be of almost any shape thanks to highly dynamic five-axis kinematics.
The manufacturing times achieved during the coating process are similar to thermal spraying. However, the alloy applied is more durable because of the Ponticon material bonding that holds the materials together. Ponticon’s device is equipped with three linear motors connected to the movement unit via carbon fiber reinforced rods. In previous versions, parts up to 70 centimeters in diameter and 80 centimeters high could be coated and additively manufactured at accelerations of up to five times and speeds of up to 200 meters per minute. Ponticon reports that for conventional laser material deposition, speeds of 0.5 to 2 meters per minute are normal.
From a design engineer’s perspective, another advantage is that completely new materials can be developed and subsequently used with 3D EHLA. For example, metallic glass can be coated. This is useful in areas such as the hydrogen industry, medical technology and space travel. 3D EHLA plays an important role in areas where the highest demands are placed on materials and component manufacturing, such as in the production of gas and wind turbines, mold making and high-tech sectors.
Using traditional processes, it either takes a long time to 3D print or some precision must be sacrificed. 3D EHLA delivers speed and precision, meaning the technology is still efficient for large-scale 3D printing.
The dynamic material deposition process developed by Ponticon makes it possible to apply almost any combination of metallic materials to metallic or ceramic parts. Unlike traditional laser deposition welding, metal powder is melted in a laser beam and then strikes the substrate surface layer by layer. The process is also suitable for applying various alloys and elements to the surface of metal parts. The resulting coating is extremely strongly bonded to the carrier material and meets the highest requirements for wear, corrosion and high temperature resistance.
Create a multi-layered technology moat
According to Huirui-laser, another major technical advantage of Ponticon is the sensor. When specifically repairing parts with broken metal or surface wear, the sensor first records the actual geometry. The CAM software uses this data to plan the path of the repair process, with the nozzle and workpiece precisely aligned with each other. The new material is then applied, suitable for the properties of the workpiece. Heat input is minimal and the material properties of the component remain unchanged.
Multi-material processing is an added advantage of Ponticon’s machines, which currently have multi-kilowatt output lasers that emit light from a processing head with an integrated powder nozzle that focuses the beam a few millimeters above the substrate surface. Metal powders are fed to the laser beam via nozzles designed specifically for the DMD process, and different alloy components can be mixed in almost any combination: Each of up to eight powder conveyors can contain different metal elements or already pre-mixed alloys. The process is therefore particularly suitable for systematic testing of the properties of additively manufactured alloys for specific applications. High-entropy alloys, for example, are extremely popular in materials engineering because essentially every conceivable material property can be combinatorially fabricated using such equipment.
Multi-material additive manufacturing
To achieve high speeds between the processing head and workpiece, the laser optics and workpiece carrier move relative to each other using highly dynamic tripod kinematics. Rod kinematics developed specifically for this process make it possible to achieve high accelerations and process speeds and still apply the material with high precision.
The process can be precisely controlled by targeted adjustment of variables such as laser power, beam diameter, powder mass flow or workpiece carrier speed.
DED – increasingly important
According to HUIRUI-LASER’s market observation, DED powder energy deposition additive manufacturing technology, which has entered a period of rising development, calls for the cooperation of material development, real-time quality control, and testing and certification standards.
Internationally, RWTH Aachen University is promoting a flexible approach to materials design characterized by a combination of computer-aided and physical alloy screening. The researchers use state-of-the-art additive manufacturing technologies such as laser powder bed fusion and (high-speed) laser metal deposition. By integrating multi-scale materials simulations and experiments following an Integrated Computational Engineering of Complexity (ICME) approach, a deeper fundamental understanding of new alloys can be achieved, with further machine learning methods also being explored in the research activities.
In addition, due to the processing accuracy of the DED technology itself, the thin-walled structure of the rocket thruster nozzle requires a laser source with specific beam quality to produce a beam of extremely small diameter. The Fraunhofer ILT Laser Institute is particularly strong in this area, as it houses a wide range of laser sources and optical configurations that can be adapted to specific applications.
In terms of high-throughput, Aachen has launched a new high-speed DED-LB laser energy deposition process, called extremely high-speed laser application (further called HS-DED to distinguish it from traditional DED-LB, developed by RWTH Aachen University and Developed by Fraunhofer ILT in Germany), HS-DED is also a DED process. Compared with DED-LB, the powder is melted independently of the molten pool, allowing high processing speeds of up to 200 m/min. And the mixing of powders is independent of melt pool dynamics and segregation processes. Expected advantages are the homogeneous mixing of elemental powders during the process and the possibility of high-throughput sample production.
It can be seen that, driven by top international scientific research institutions, DED powder energy deposition additive manufacturing technology will break through its own development bottleneck and obtain more applicable processing materials, higher processing accuracy, and higher processing efficiency. It will become a development trend. The establishment of this development trend has given DED powder energy deposition additive manufacturing technology a wider development space.
