Seminar: Additive Manufacturing, 3D Printing, Porosity and Synchrotron Experiments

3D printing of metals has advanced rapidly in the past decade and is used across a wide range of industry.  Many aspects of the technology are considered to be well understood in the sense that validated computer simulations are available. At the microscopic scale, however, more work is required to quantify and understand defect structures, which affect fatigue resistance, for example. Synchrotron-based 3D X-ray computed microtomography (µXCT) was performed at the Advanced Photon Source on a variety of AM samples using both laser (SLM) and electron beam (EBM) powder bed; this showed systematic trends in porosity. Optical and SEM characterization of powders used in additively manufacturing (AM) reveals a variety of morphologies and size distributions.