High-gravitational effect on process stabilization for metal powder bed fusion

Additive manufacturing is a technology that enables mass customization of products owing to its flexibility and is one of the key technologies used in Internet-of-Things-based manufacturing systems. In recent years, industrial applications of additive manufacturing have been increasing, and expanding into space manufacturing. However, the controllability of gravitational acceleration has not been well explored. In this study, a high-gravitational powder bed fusion system is developed, which produces a high-gravitational field via the application of centrifugal acceleration. It is evident that the powder bed quality is improved, and the spatter generation is dramatically suppressed on applying a high gravitational acceleration of up to 10+ G. The experimental evaluations demonstrate that a high gravitational field improves the surface quality, density, and hardness of the fabricated parts.