| Abstract: |
Besides applications like layering functional surfaces, laser cladding can be used for additive manufacturing and repair welding purposes called direct metal deposition (DMD). DMD is a more and more used technology in industry and research today. It fills the gap between high-resolution powder bed selective laser melting and high output wired arc additive manufacturing processes.
In DMD processing with industrial robot systems up to six degrees of freedom of the robot can be used. However, the powder nozzle type and robot-programming sometime limit this freedom. Hence, translatory movements like conventional 3D-Printers are common. In order to make use of the additional rotatory movement possibilities a special type of powder nozzles and a new method of slicing the components have to be managed. To increase the quality of the products before machining, a holistic view of the process chain is essential. The hypothesis is to increase quality and near net shape by optimising the chain from the CAD part to the welding result. The main aspect of this work is the evaluation of a multidimensional slicing and DMD manufacturing approach. Therefore, a simplified component is sliced and manufactured using a conventional as well as a multidimensional method. At the conventional method the components are sliced and manufactured in an orthogonal direction to the base plate. Component-specific shapes are not taken into account. A multidimensional approach might be slicing planes orthogonally to the building direction of the component.
The investigation showed that multidimensional slicing and manufacturing achieved an increased near net shape as well as a consistent layer width and height. Overhang structures often cause problems with tempered films on the base plate if the working head stays vertical in the process. It was shown that aligning the working head with the trajectory angle can solve that problem. Shape-dependent slicing and fabrication is required for additive manufacturing and repairing complex component geometries.
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