For today's applications, especially in the high-performance segment, the interplay of geometry, material and its structure is of central importance to manufacture sustainable parts. The Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) process enables users to take advantage of these degrees of freedom.

Latest trends in LBPF show high-tech materials optimised for the laser-powder bed process. But also alloys that have been processed for decades still have enormous potential for a sustainable future. To maximise this potential with LBPF processes, developers need to think beyond homogeneous scalar mechanical properties within parts towards to multiple local micro-structures to exploit the limits of the respective alloy. A good understanding and leveraging of hardware, process management and material plays a central role in this, to generate optimised local structures enabling users to create the best outcome for their respective applications. There are new hardware concepts necessary to be able to reliably generate the necessary structural modifications, but also different approaches to materials testing to fully capture the usable anisotropy. This contribution shows how to utilise these degrees of freedom in a meaningful way, building on a comprehensive understanding of the applied mechanisms.

Dr. Marco Nock