Investigation of the Potentials and Current Limitations of Multi-material Manufacturing of Metals by Powder Bed Fusion based on a Copper and Steel Material Combination

Multi-material manufacturing of metals by powder bed fusion (MM PBF-LB/M) combines the ability of building complex structures with the capability to create an arbitrary material distribution in one process. The possibility of arbitrary material distribution in one part enables future applications. However, one challenge in MM PBF-LB/M is to ensure powder purity during the build process, which is influenced by the technology maturity of the MM PBF-LB/M system. Impurities in the manufactured part can lead to the deterioration of material properties and therefore must be avoided. This paper investigates the current state of the MM PBF-LB/M systems technology and the achievable material purity. The resulting material properties depend on the powder purity and reprocessing ability for copper and steel specimens. As critical sub-systems, the application mechanism and the powder extraction module required for the holohedral application mechanism are identified. Finally, improvement measures for the MM PBF-LB/M process are derived.