Fabrication of Sectionally Permeable Components with Curved Surface by Laser-Beam Powder-Bed Fusion

Abstract

Devices in process engineering often include permeable components. As shown in our recent work for planar components, laser-beam powder bed fusion offers the opportunity to integrate permeable sections into complex monolithic metal parts in one go. This paper extends the approach to components with curved surfaces. Different scan strategies were investigated for their effects on surface morphology and permeability of tubular samples. It was found that in order to ensure consistent properties of a permeable tube, different starting points or rotation of the scan vectors have to be used.