Implementation of a multi-material mechanism in a laser-based powder bed fusion (PBF-LB) machine

Multi-material additive manufacturing by laser-based powder bed fusion (PBF-LB) combines the advantages of additive manufacturing (AM), such as the ability to build complex structures, with the capability to create an arbitrary material distribution in one manufacturing process. This paper presents the implementation of a multi-material mechanism in a mono-material PBF-LB system. Therefore, the multi-material process and the new powder deposition mechanism are introduced. Special attention is paid to the required process steps of powder recoating and powder removal. To gain further insight into the multi-material process, dependencies between the powder removal and the manufacturing quality are described. Furthermore, the required equipment and the current challenges of multi-material additive manufacturing are highlighted. In addition, results of the material combination consisting of the tool steel 1.2709 and the copper alloy CW106C are shown and discussed.