Radio‐Frequency Identification of Metal AM Parts

Radio frequency identification technology (RFID) is used extensively as a transponder in product identification and goods logistics. Additive manufacturing (AM) technologies such as metal‐processing laser beam melting (LBM) make it possible to interrupt and continue production processes at any time. Using this advantage, it is possible to interrupt the layer‐by‐layer building process at a specific height of the z axis in order to integrate components such as RFID tags. This allows metallic components to be uniquely marked with an invisible and firmly fixed tag during their manufacture. The challenge of this approach is to find suitable criteria for integrating RFIDs into metal, as metallic environments have a strong negative impact on the transmission range.