Automated manufacturing of mechatronic parts by laser-based powder bed fusion

The powder-bed-based laser beam melting process (L-PBF) has become one of the most reliable and popular additive manufacturing technologies in the field of industrial production of metal components. Moreover, it is constantly evolving to ensure lower costs due to higher productivity as well as to enable the processing of new materials, such as tungsten or copper-alloys. In terms of machine developments, a number of trends are observable. On the one hand, machines become able to produce multi-material parts with an arbitrary distribution of at least two different materials. Therefore, the existing powder delivery system must be adapted. As multiple approaches for doing so already exist, it must be decided which is the most suitable. On the other hand, a further goal is to integrate sensors or actuators automatically, to create structural parts with fully encapsulated electronic components. For this automated process, a pick-and-place concept must be developed and integrated into an existing L-PBF machine. To implement this automated process extension, several adjustments to the system must be implemented. This paper presents approaches for realising the described concepts and the first results of the adapted manufacturing processes.