Additive Manufacturing has gained wide interest in academia and industry in the last decade as it enables the production of complex geometries and integrated functions, making components lighter and smaller. Especially the so-called laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) technology offers the widest range of applications from making tooling to prototyping up to structural parts with the ability to create fine and complex shapes.

However, beyond niche applications the hype about AM has flattened and the essential challenges to use the technology for the production of e.g. dynamically loaded parts with a comparable performance to conventionally manufactured parts, especially made from high strength aluminium alloys, is not solved at all. In particular, there is a lack of in-depth understanding of the LPBF process, and of the origin and effects of defects on additively manufactured components which limits its use for more demanding applications.

The presentation shows results of process robustness investigations by means of high speed imaging, mechanical testing and fracture investigations of additively manufactured AlMgSc (Scalmalloy®). Weak points of the process and its influence on material quality are revealed. Finally an approach for process optimization is shown to produce consistently sound material quality with reliable and predictable properties.