Macro Processing: Additive Manufacturing (LiM 2015)

Hybrid lightweight design by laser additive manufacturing and laser welding processes
Frank Beckmann, Claus Emmelmann

This paper deals with the design and production of hybrid components as a combination of laser additive and conventional manufactured segments by laser welding. Hereby the economic and technological limits of the LAM process can be overcome. The study goes into the weldability of the material with the focus on the cast alloy AlSi12 and evaluates static strength of the hybrid connection.

Keywords: Additive Manufacturing; Laser Welding, Hybrid Manufacturing

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Effect of process conditions on mechanical behavior of Aluminium Wrought Alloy EN AW-2618 additively manufactured by Laser Beam Melting in powder bed
Michael Cornelius Hermann Karg, Bhrigu Ahuja, Adam Schaub, Jochen Schmidt, Marius Sachs, Alexander Mahr, Sebastian Wiesenmayer, Leon Wigner, Karl-Ernst Wirth, Wolfgang Peukert, Marion Merklein, Michael Schmidt

Additive Manufacturing offers geometric freedom excellently suited for topology optimized light weight designs. Ideally these should be built from materials of high strength to weight ratio such as aluminium-copper wrought alloys. Yet these are considered unsuitable for welding. Today, the only class of aluminium alloys widely processed by Laser Beam Melting of Metals in powder bed (LBM) is that of aluminium-silicon cast alloys which are easily weldable. We present mechanical characteristics of LBM aluminium alloy EN AW-2618. We analyzed the chemical constitution of powder and LBM samples. We conducted tensile tests under variation of load direction relative to build-up direction. We tested samples as built and after T6 heat treatment (solution annealing, quenching and artificial aging). We found pronounced anisotropy both in the as built as well as in the T6 state. Remarkably, elongation at break of T6 samples pulled in build-up direction exceeds values from literature for conventionally manufactured EN AW-2618. For interpretation we consider boundary conditions of sample production, metallographic microsections and fracture surfaces.

Keywords: Additive Manufacturing; high-strength Aluminium Copper Wrought Alloy EN AW-2618; AlCuMgNi; 3.1924; Selective Laser
Melting™; LaserCUSING™; Direct Metal-Laser-Sintering™

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The role of powder properties on the process-ability of Aluminium alloys in selective laser melting
Nesma T. Aboulkhair, Ian Maskery, Ian Ashcroft, Chris Tuck, Nicola M. Everitt

Selective laser melting is used to manufacture complex structures using an additive manufacturing approach with metal powders. It is generally supposed that the quality of the powder plays an important role in the success of the manufacturing process. This is because the powder morphology alongside its size distribution governs the formation of gas pores and controls the flowability. This is important as the process requires successive deposition of uniform layers of powder, which is hindered if the powder does not flow well. In this work, two batches of AlSi10Mg powder with different specifications were characterized in terms of morphology, composition, size distribution, flowability, and apparent density. Bulk samples were created from the powders using selective laser melting and the relative densities were compared. One of the metal powders, which is specially produced for additive manufacturing was found to provide higher quality parts than those fabricated using the other powder, which is not specifically manufactured for that aim. In this paper, we report a successful approach to avoid defects and porosity induced by powder quality by altering the scan strategy, namely scanning each layer twice with different laser powers per scan. The approach could pave the way for successfully overcoming poor quality powder effects.

Keywords: Additive manufacturing; metal powder; selective laser melting; Aluminium; powder characterisation.

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Hydrodynamic instabilities and ablation phenomena under the laser melting of powder layers
Yuri Chivel

Process of melting of the thick metal powder layers was investigated under temperature control. Ejection of dispersed particles from the overheated melt has been observed and investigated. Mechanisms of the melt penetration into loose powder bed have been determined. Instability of the contact surface between the melt and powder revealed by in experiment has been studied. Numerical simulation of the Rayleigh - Taylor instability suggest that instability develops starting from small scale passing to the large-scale structure

Keywords: selective laser melting; temperature monitoring; instability, thermal conductivity; ablation; droplet
ejection.

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Influence of local dependencies in additive layered manufacturing on serial process design for aerospace applications
Kai Schimanski, Daniel Tolksdorf, Thorsten Schroeder, Bernhard Bahlmann

The technology of additive layered manufacturing (ALM) achieves more and more industrial applications. The win of freedom in design powered by this technology, makes it to an important technology for aerospace applications due to the high potential on weight savings. And it is also interesting in view of ecological aspects. But therefore a holistic view and understanding on the ALM process and its attended pre- and post processing is important. Varel plant of Premium AEROTEC is able to provide nearly all required pre- and post processes and in consequence a machine for the additive laser manufacturing was installed in June 2014. Among other things running projects investigate the local dependencies within the cross section of the ALM process regarding the distortion behavior, microstructure and the mechanical properties within the process chain. The knowledge of those influences on the manufactured parts will be used for the design of an efficient process. The contribution describes the dimensional and shape deviations, the microstructure and the mechanical properties along the process chain for additive manufacture parts. Depending on the process parameters dimensional deviations up to 0.1 mm occurred for the ALM process. Due to the required high performance of parts within the aerospace industry methods for compensation of these deviations will be pointed out to achieve the required accuracy.

Keywords. Additive manufacturing; Ti-alloys; serial production; aerospace

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Selective deposition of polymer powder by vibrating nozzles for laser beam melting
Thomas Stichel, Tobias Laumer, Philipp Amend, Stephan Roth

In this report, the delivery of polyamide 12 (PA 12) powder and powder layer preparation by vibrating steel nozzles is investigated and discussed with respect to its application for laser beam melting. Therefore, a setup was realized which includes a steel nozzle attached to a piezo actor as well as a positioning system. In order to investigate the mass flow characteristics in dependency on the applied vibration state, a weighing cell is used enabling time-resolved mass flow measurements. Moreover, single-layer patterns consisting of colored and uncolored polyamide 12 were created and characterized regarding surface homogeneity and selectivity before as well as after the melting of the powder layers by a hot plate.

Keywords: laser beam melting, polyamide 12, vibrating nozzle, multi-material

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Additive Manufacturing – an introduction to the activities of Collaborative Research Center CRC 814
Dietmar Drummer

With almost unlimited freedom of design, additive manufacturing technologies open up new perspectives to achieve individual solutions. These types of manufacturing techniques barely set any limits to the spirit of innovation. Due to this fact additive manufacturing techniques follow the trend towards customized products and will allow for serial production in the future. Especially powder and beam based polymer and metal processing are certified to have a high suitability for achieving industrial requirements. Despite the high potential of beam melting of polymeric powders, the step into serial production of highly individualized products was yet not realized. Nevertheless the medial driven hype related to additive processes is still increasing, although a lack in scientifically assured knowledge about basic interactions on material, process and part property level appears. The Collaborative Research Centre 814 Additive Manufacturing (CRC 814), established 2011 in Erlangen by German Research Foundation (DFG), investigates further mentioned various interactions between materia ls, processes and part properties. Therefore metal as well as polymeric powders are focused concerning their processing in beam based manufacturing techniques (e.g. laser beam melting and electron beam melting). Furthermore the built up of multi-level simulation models and the setup of inline measurement systems is performed. Within this invited lecture an overview about the interdisciplinary research activities of CRC 814 is given, presenting basic aims as well as latest results.

Keywords: Additive Manufacturing, Research, selective laser melting of polymers, selective laser melting of metals, selective electron
beam melting, powder, simulation

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Application of CO2 laser for 3D printing utilizing thermal assisted polymerization of PVC plastic
Mohammadreza Riahi Dehkordi

In this article fabrication and testing of a 3D printer based on polymerization of PVC plastic under CO2 laser exposure is discussed. PVC is the third most widely used plastic in the world. It's monomer called Vinyl Chloride (Chloroethen) is in liquid form. Ones heated, the polymerization process starts and the liquid monomer solidifies to produce Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC). In our setup for 3D printing application this heat is produces by selective exposure of Vinyl Chloride monomer by CO2 laser. The structure of the 3D printer is the same as conventional SLA 3D printers except that instead of photo-polymerization of a resin by a UV laser, CO2 laser performs the Polymerization of PVC plastic. A tank is filled with Vinyl Chloride liquid monomer, a build plate is placed below the surface of the liquid and
the CO2 laser scans the first layer of a model on the surface of the liquid tank utilizing a galvoscanner. The exposed area polymerized, solidifies and attach to the build plate. The build plate in then lowers in the tank by 100 micrometer and a blade spreads fresh monomers on the first polymerized layer. The CO2 laser scans the second layer. This process is repeated until the model is complete. Next, the built model rinsed and baked in an oven to unify the layers and a hard solid PVC plastic model produced. The fabrication process is presented and the effect of different parameters such as laser power, scanning speed and post bake process on the quality of models is discussed.

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Additive manufacturing based on laser cladding of cp-Ti for dental implants
Felipe Arias-González, Jesús del Val, Rafael Comesaña, Joaquín Penide, Fernando Lusquiños, Félix Quintero, Antonio Riveiro, Mohamed Boutinguiza, Juan Pou

Humans have attempted to replace missing teeth with root form implants for more than 4000 years using bamboo, ivory, shells or precious metals. Nowadays, a typical dental implant consists of a screw made of commercially pure titanium, cp-Ti, with a roughened surface to improve the osteointegration. Titanium and its alloys are successful metallic biomaterials for dental implants because of their biocompatibility, corrosion resistance, fatigue strength and a relatively low elastic modulus to minimize “stress shielding” and osteopenia. Dental implants are manufactured by conventional subtractive methods, which show a set of inconveniences: titanium has low machinability; loss of high cost material during machining; and the geometrical limitation for the shapes of the dental implants achieved by subtractive methods. Nevertheless, Rapid Prototyping based on Laser Cladding (RPLC) can become a solution to manufacture advanced pure titanium dental implants tailored to the patient, with new geometries to improve the osteointegration and with enhanced microstructures/mechanical properties for a better performance. This study is an initial analysis to produce pure titanium parts by RPLC as dental implants. RPLC is employed to generate simple 3D geometries using cp-Ti powder as precursor material. The parts generated are studied to determine the properties related to a good fixation of the implant and the osteointegration: elastic modulus is analyzed by nanoindentation; surface roughness is measured by optical interferometry; and wettability by means of contact angle technique.

Keywords: Macro Processing; Additive manufacturing; Laser Cladding; Titanium; Dental Implants

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Additive process chain using selective laser melting and laser metal deposition
Benjamin Graf, Michael Schuch, Robert Kersting, Andrey Gumenyuk, Michael Rethmeier

Selective Laser Melting (SLM) and Laser Metal Deposition (LMD) are prominent methods in the field of additive manufacturing technology. While the powder-bed based SLM allows the manufacturing of complex structures, build rate and part volumes are limited. In contrast, LMD is able to operate with high deposition rates on existing parts, however shape complexity is limited. Utilizing their respective strengths, a combination of these two additive technologies has the potential to produce complex parts with high deposition rates. In this paper, a process chain consisting of additive technologies SLM and LMD is described. The e xperiments are conducted using the alloys Ti-6Al-4V and Inconel 718. A cylindrical test specimen is produced and the microstructure along the SLM-LMD zone is described. In addition, this process chain was tested in the manufacturing of a turbine blade. The feasibility of implementing this process chain for small batch production is discussed. The results are evaluated to show advantages and limitations of the SLM-LMD process chain. This paper is relevant for industrial or scientific users of additive manufacturing technologies, who are interested in the feasibility of a SLM-LMD process chain and its potential for increased deposition rates.

Keywords: Macro processing; additive manufacturing; laser metal deposition; Ti-6Al-4V; Inconel 718; process chain; deposition rate

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Experimental and theoretical study of residual deformations and stresses at additive manufacturing by fusion
Victor Saphronov, Andrey V. Gusarov

Controlling the residual deformations and stresses at additive manufacturing is important to minimize the deviation of the part from the model and to avoid cracking. The tendencies and mechanisms of formation for residual stresses and deformations are studied at 3D printing with fused polymer. Horizontal beams are manufactured on thin vertical supports connecting them to a rigid substrate. The bending of the beam after detachment from the substrate is measured. The curvature radius appears to be proportional to the height of the beam and independent of the layer height. The thermoelastic theory applied to the multilayer beam confirm the experimental tendencies. The obtained results are common for other technologies adding melt layer-by-layer.

Keywords: selective laser melting; laser cladding; 3D printing; multilayer beam; bending

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Influence of process parameters on deposition dimensions in laser engineered net shaping
Fangyong Niu, Guangyi Ma, Dongsheng Chai, Siyu Zhou, Dongjiang Wu

Process parameters have great influence on deposition width in laser engineered net shaping. However, due to the
complexity in fabrication process, the relationships of process parameters and deposition width are difficult to figure out
quantitatively. Based on energy and mass balance of deposition layers, this study proposed a process model about layer
deposition width, which involves the main process parameters of laser engineered net shaping. This model clearly
reveals the relationships between deposition width and laser power, scanning speed and powder flow rate. The model
shows that the layer deposition width is proportional to P1/2 and inversely proportional to v1/2, but has almost no
relationship with the powder flow rate. The conclusions from the proposed model were verified by the deposition of
several 316L stainless steel single-bead wall structures.


Keywords: additive manufacturing, laser engineered net shaping, process parameter, deposition width;

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Build-up strategies for generating components of cylindrical shape with Laser Metal Deposition
Torsten Petrat, Benjamin Graf, Andrey Gumenyuk, Michael Rethmeier

Laser Metal Deposition (LMD) as additive manufacturing process offers the potential to produce near net shape
components. This reduces the amount of material and post-processing. The components are composed of individual
layers. Already small irregularities within a layer can add up over multiple layers and lead to error propagation. This
paper deals with the issue of build-up strategies to minimize irregularities and prevent error propagation. Different
travel paths and the influence of a changing starting point regarding to error propagation are discussed. Different
deposition rates between core and peripheral area are detected and successfully compensated by adjusting the build-up
sequence. Stainless steel and titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V are used in the experiments. The results are intended to illustrate
the potential of an adjusted build-up strategy and provide basic information on the way to an automated deposition
process. This paper is of interest for engineers in industry or science using LMD as additive manufacturing process.


Keywords: Additive Manufacturing; Build-up Strategy; Laser Metal Deposition; Stainless Steel, Ti-6Al-4V

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Influence of temperature gradients on the part properties for the simultaneous laser beam melting of polymers
Tobias Laumer, Thomas Stichel, Philipp Amend, Michael Schmidt

By Laser Beam Melting of polymers (LBM), parts with almost any geometry can be built directly out of CAD files
without the need for additional tools. Thus, prototypes or parts in small series production can be generated within short
times. Up to now, no multi-material parts have been built by LBM, which is a major limitation of the technology. To
realize multi-material parts, new mechanisms for depositing different polymer powders as well as new irradiation
strategies are needed, by which polymers with different melting temperatures can be warmed to their specific
preheating temperatures and be molten simultaneously. This is achieved by simultaneous laser beam melting (SLBM). In
the process, two different materials are deposited next to each other and preheated a few degrees below their melting
temperatures by infrared emitters and laser radiation (λ = 10.60 μm), before in the last step the two preheated powders
are molten simultaneously by an additional laser (λ = 1.94 μm).

So far, multi-material tensile bars have been realized and analyzed regarding their boundary zone between both
materials. The experiments showed that the temperature gradients in the boundary zone and along the building
direction seem to be of great importance for the process stability and the resulting part properties. Therefo re, a detailed
analysis of the occurring temperature gradients during the process is needed to identify adequate process adjustments
regarding the temperature controlling. To analyze the temperature gradients, thermocouples positioned inside the
powder bed are used. By varying the temperature of the building platform, the influence of different temperature
gradients on the resulting part properties is shown.


Keywords: Additive Manufacturing, Laser Beam Melting of Polymers, Multi-Material Parts

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Laser sintering of silver filled conductive adhesive for generation of embedded electronic circuits in stereolithography parts
Bernd Niese, Philipp Amend, Uwe Urmoneit, Stephan Roth, Michael Schmidt

The requirements for mechatronic devices in terms of functionality, integration density and costs have risen according to
the different application areas whereby a high demand for complex mechatronic modules exists. Furthermore, fast
implementation of mechatronic modules in series production requires functional prototypes in the early stages of the
development process. However, the manufacturing technology offers several methods which are suitable for prototype
and small series production. In this context, the stereolithography (SLA) is a suitable technology, which can be used for
production of functional prototypes. The layer-wise building process by means of laser polymerization of resin offers the
integration of e.g. sensor functions without thermal damaging and opens up new possibilities for the realization of multi-
functional components with high integration density. In addition, embedding of electronic circuits provides protection
against environmental influences. The following paper presents a hybrid manufacturing technology that combines
stereolithography and dispensing system technologies to fabricate mechatronic devices with embedded electronic
circuits. This so-called embedding stereolithography (eSLA) requires a flexible and modular system technolo gy which
allows continuing the layer-wise process after integration of the electronic circuit. In order to fulfill this requirement, the
laser sintering of silver filled conductive adhesive is an appropriate method to create conductive circuits directly af ter
dispensing on the current surface of parts. Additionally, the placement of the electronic components could be realized
by preformed cavities of SLA parts and the contacting of them could be done in situ by laser radiation. Thereby, the
conductive adhesive is used like solder for fixing and contacting the components. In this paper, the laser sintering of
conductive adhesive on SLA parts using UV-laser radiation (λ = 355 nm) is investigated regarding the transition resistance of contacted components by four point measurement and the characterization of laser contacted components by cross
sections. The investigations are intended to evaluate the beam-matter-interaction of the silver filled conductive
adhesive and the UV-laser radiation by an optical analysis of the material, the curing behavior and the long-term stability
of the contacting under environmental stresses.


Keywords: Embedding Stereolithography, additive manufacturing, embedded electronic circuit, silver filled conductive adhesive,
laser sintering

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Reliable Beam Positioning for Metal-based Additive Manufacturing by Means of Focal Shift Reduction
Christiane Thiel, Martin Stubenvoll, Bernd Schäfer, Toni Krol

Metal-based additive manufacturing enables the production of even complex shaped parts that cannot be produced with
conventional processes (e.g. milling). Taking advantage of the geometrical freedom in part production, an increasing
number of industrial applications nowadays resort to these techniques. Hence, the additive manufacturing technology has
currently passed the threshold from prototyping to mass production. This requires short processing times which are
potentially reached by the adoption of multiple lasers with increasing output power. Typically, single mode lasers are used
to reach customer demands, e.g. surface smoothness.

An optical setup of fibre beam delivery, collimation, focusing, and beam deflection is utilized to allow laser scan velocities
of up to 1000 mm/s. For future applications of laser powers in the range of several kilowatts a critical level of absorbed
power in these optical elements is likely to occur. The resulting thermally induced focal shift can lead to an undesirable
beam defocussing and the corresponding increase of beam diameter will then lead to a loss of intensity in the powder bed
interaction zone. To encounter this challenge for a future utilization of even higher laser powers, measures can be taken
to reduce thermally induced focal shift. One possible approach comprises the insertion of additional optical glasses wh ich
compensate the focal shift by means of a converse thermal behaviour, i.e. negative refraction index gradient. Related to
this topic, the measurement of absorption in optical components and the power dependent focal position are presented
within this work. Laboratory measurements are complemented by the application of the corresponding results on an
appropriate manufacturing system configuration. The investigations demonstrate that the desired reduction of thermally
induced focal shift can be reached.

Keywords: Metal-based Additive Manufacturing, Thermally Induced Focal Shift, Process Quality, Absorption Measurement, High Power
Single Mode Lasers

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Hybridization of semiconductor micro particles with plasmonic nanoparticles during additive manufacturing
Marcus Lau, Ralf Niemann, Mathias Bartsch, William O'Neill, Stephan Barcikowski

Additive manufacturing is particular interesting to fabricate structures that are not accessible by
conventional machining processes [1-3] and therefore an emerging field. Beside the unique
geometries that can be fabricated attaching gold nanoparticles to the powder materials results in
enhanced sintering parameters and sintering thresholds decrease in case of off-resonant [4] and
resonant laser sintering [5]. More remarkable, the fabrication of dispersed micro/nano
ultra-structures is observed after sintering of the compounded gold-nanoparticle/zinc oxide-
microparticle hybrid material. By cutting a thin micro lamella from the sintered and un-sintered
ZnO@Au particles we could show that the gold nanoparticles are embedded in the ultra-structure
after laser sintering. Therefore laser processing of nanoparticle/microparticle composition gives
access to interesting hybrid materials. Observations for the process window to cause sintering in
dependence of gold nanoparticle amount on zinc oxide led to the conclusion that off-resonant near
field enhancement is responsible for amplified photon conversion. This demonstrates that during
additive manufacturing nanoparticle materials can be embedded into the sintered matrix of
microparticles.

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Simulation of the effect of different laser beam intensity profiles on the productivity of the Selective Laser Melting process
Tim Marten Wischeropp, Raul Salazar, Dirk Herzog, Claus Emmelmann

The application of Additive Manufacturing technologies is rapidly increasing. Despite the numerous advantages, one of
the major shortcomings is the comparable low productivity of the process. An optimized laser beam intensity profile
promises a more uniform energy input, increased energy efficiency, reduced vaporization and therefore an increase in
melting rate and productivity.

This paper presents a 2D-FEM model, which qualitatively simulates the heat distribution for the melting of TiAl6V4
powder on top of a solid TiAl6V4 block in an efficient way. With the help of the model, the heat distribution during the
melting of a single track was simulated for three different laser beam intensity profiles as well as scanning speeds and
laser powers. The results show a significant increase in energy efficiency as well as lower amount of vaporized material
for donut shaped laser beam intensity profiles in comparison to Gaussian ones, promising higher build-up rates.


Keywords: Additive Manufacturing, Fundamentals and Process Simulation, Beam Shaping

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Some optimization strategies for tool path generation in 3D laser metal deposition
Maria Jose Tobar, Jose Manuel Amado, Javier Montero, Angel Rodríguez, Armando Yáñez

Laser direct metal deposition has proven to be successful in the manufacturing of 3D parts. In this process, the required
geometry is built up layer by layer on overlapping laser clad beads. However, some problems are often encountered
regarding surface finish and dimensional accuracy. These are mainly caused by heat accumulation effects during the
process (resulting in changes in material temperature and powder catchment efficiency) and/or inadequate tool path
trajectories and scanning parameters. All these factors lead to defects in the manufactured 3D part, particularly when bulk
solid structures (as opposed to hollow) are involved in the process.

In this work we test and discuss the effect of different tool path strategies in dealing with the above issues. Results will be
presented on the laser 3D manufacturing of stainless steel parts. A monitoring device (online CMOS camera) will be used
to supervise and get and better understanding of the deposition process under the different approaches.


Keywords: Additive Manufacturing

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Laser printing and curing/sintering of silver paste lines for solar cell metallization
David Munoz-Martin, Chen Yu, Andres Márquez, Miguel Morales, Carlos Molpeceres

The main objective of this work is to adapt the Laser Induced Forward Transfer (LIFT), a well-known laser direct writing
technique for material transfer, to define metallic contacts (fingers and busbars) onto c -Si cells and to use continuous
wave laser sources to curing and sintering the deposited line.

Commercial silver pastes (with viscosity around 30-50 kcPs) are applied over a donor glass substrate using a coater with
a controlled thickness in the range of tens of microns. A solid state pulsed laser (532 nm) is focused at the glass/silver
interface producing a droplet of silver that it is transferred to an acceptor substrate. Lines are drawn by means of
scanning the laser spot. The influence of the process parameters (silver paste thickness, gap between donor and
acceptor, and laser parameters - spot size, pulse energy and overlapping of pulses) is studied as a function of the
morphology of the deposited lines using confocal and scanning electron microscopy. With an appropriate process
parameterization it is possible to transfer a high paste volume per pulse (
400 pL) and then large aspect ratio lines (
0.5) can be drawn at high speeds (2 m/s).
After the printing process a continuous wave green laser is used to heat the silver paste line to remove the organic layer
(curing) or even to produce some melting between the silver grains (sintering) in order to reduce the line resistance.
Process parameters such as laser power, spot size, processing velocity, and number of scans are studied. Results show
that all-laser based metallization processes are possible.


Keywords: Laser Direct Write; Laser induced forward transfer; Silver paste; Photovoltaic; Metallization;

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TRIZ-based Biomimetic Part Design for Laser Additive Manufacturing
Tobias Kamps, Christopher Muenzberg, Lukas Stacheder, Reinhart Gunther, Udo Lindemann

Laser additive Manufacturing (LAM) possesses a great potential regarding part complexity and adaption for an
innovative part design due to a layer-wise buildup offering multiple geometry variants form a broad design solution
space. Thus, design optimization is a complex challenge for the designer that requires systematic design approaches.

A methodology for an application-oriented systematic part design development is introduced in this paper using TRIZ:
TRIZ’s wide collection of methods is analyzed with respect to easy applicability in order to identify a suitable set of
methods to be used. This is augmented with databased biological solutions as an inexhaustible source of evolutionary
principles and structures. Additionally, design restrictions for LAM are taken into consideration. Altogether an
application-oriented methodology is introduced that systematically creates a solution space for a design problem
specifically for LAM. The presented methodology is evaluated in a case study of an external reamer. The results obtained
by the optimization process are compared to a conventional trial-and-error approach conducted by a practitioner. The
use of the presented approach results in a reduction of mass by 10 % and increased functionality compared to a non-
methodological practitioner solution.


Keywords: TRIZ; laser additive manufacturing; biomimetics; design for additive manufacturing; design optimization; reamer