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GE Additive Announced that Concept Laser’s M LINE Factory 3D Printing System Will Be Delivered in Q2 2019

A little over two years ago, GE acquired a 75% stake in metal 3D printing leader Concept Laser. Ever since then, GE Additive has been working to review and redesign the system, software, and design architecture of Concept Laser’s M LINE FACTORY 3D printer so that it’s in line with established GE processes. The modular system has also been undergoing beta testing with some selected customers. But today at formnext in Frankfurt, GE Additive announced that its first Concept Laser M LINE FACTORY systems will finally be delivered to customers in Q2 of 2019.

The M LINE Factory provides excellent reliability and automation, which in turn drives scalable, economical series production on an industrial scale – something that most current standalone machine solutions cannot achieve. As the technology continues its transition from prototyping to production, the demand for quality 3D printers, along with operators to run them and floor space to house them, is rising.

“The positive impact the M LINE FACTORY can have on our customers’ operations and their bottom line is huge,” said Jason Oliver, the President and CEO of GE Additive. “It’s important we provide technologically advanced systems that are reliable and add value to our customers. M LINE FACTORY delivers on those commitments.”

The system is an important part of GE Additive’s focus on providing reliable, repeatable 3D printers that are ready for series production. The M LINE FACTORY has a maximum build envelope of  500 x 500 x up to 400 mm³ (x,y,z), and is optionally equipped with one to four laser sources, each one delivering 1,000 W of power.

During the last two years of lifetime and rig testing, the company identified several areas for improvement that have since been incorporated, such as the onboard software system, which offers real-time, in-situ process monitoring, modularized architecture, and superior exposure strategies. The 3D printer’s automation and in-machine architecture have been improved, and its ease of service, scalable modular system design, serviceability, process control, and thermal stability have all been enhanced.

The set-up and dismantling processes, along with part production, actually occur in two independent machine units, which can either be combined or operated separately from one another, according to the customer’s preference. This makes it possible to run production processes in parallel, instead of sequentially, which increases the output quantity and availability of the process chain and lowers downtime.

The M LINE Factory LPS, which stands for Laser Processing System, increases the laser ‘on’ time by separating the pre/post processing unit from the individual work process, while at the same time maintaining an integrated machine design. Instead of forming a single continuous unit, the LPS is made up of an independent powder module, build module, and overflow module, which are of a uniform size and can each be activated individually now for the first time. An easy to use internal transport system is used to automatically transport the modules, and to maximize the efficiency of the system’s footprint, the modules can be stacked up in a series alignment as well.

Additional features of the M LINE Factory LPS include:

  • Improved laser productivity potential due to increased overlap within the build field
  • Frontload transport system of automated internal transport system

A flexible configuration makes it possible for the build and process time to dictate the LPS to the ratio of the M LINE Factory MHS, or Material Handling Station. This processing unit, which comes with an integrated sieving station, is for powder management and pre/post processing, and automates both the upstream and downstream stages of the production process.

Additionally, the MHS uses automation, digitization, and interlinking to provide interfaces to more conventional manufacturing methods. The MHS has high safety standards, including an automated module lidding system that contains full powder and inert gas, water-flood passivation of filters, contactless powder handling, and no manual handling in the process chamber.

To learn more about the innovative M LINE Factory, which will ship to customers in Q2 of 2019, visit GE Additive at formnext this week in booth D30, Hall 3.

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[Images provided by GE Additive]

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High-Speed Cameras Used to Monitor 3D Printing Process

3D printing, particulalry laser-powder bed fusion or L-PBF, requires a great deal of monitoring to avoid defects and flaws in the final parts. In a thesis entitled “Process Monitoring for Temporal-Spatial Modeling of Laser Powder Bed Fusion,” a student named Animek Shaurya studies the use of high-speed video cameras for in-situ monitoring of the 3D printing process of nickel alloy 625 to detect meltpool, splatter, and over melting regions to improve the quality of the print.

“The quantities that can be measured via in-situ sensing can be referred to as process signatures and can represent the source of information to detect possible defects,” states Shaurya. “The video images are processed for temporal-spatial analysis by using principal component analysis and T2 statistics for identifying the history of pixel intensity levels through the process monitoring. These results are correlated as over melting and spatter regions. The results obtained from these studies will provide information about the process parameters which can be used for further validation of modelling studies or for industrial purposes.”

Another objective of the research is to study meltpool locations and the types being generated during over melting, normal melting and under melting. There are two main types of meltpool: Type One, in which the meltpool area being processed is still within the heat-affected zone of the previous hatch scanning (or track processing); and Type Two, in which the meltpool area being processed is no longer affected by the heat from laser scanning of the previous track or hatch.

For the study, an EOS Direct Metal Laser Sintering Machine was used to 3D print nickel cubes. Experiments were designed to establish
a relationship between process parameters and part quality. A high-speed camera was used to perform an in-situ process monitoring to quantitatively analyze meltpool size and understand and analyze spattering behavior.

It was shown that over melting occurs more frequently in the processing of Type One tracks than in Type Two tracks.

“Such high values are usually occurring since pixel in these areas are characterized by an intensity profile that is mainly different from the underlying pattern that describes the image stream,” says Shaurya. “The knowledge of spatial localization of these spikes is important from an in-situ perspective, because they can provide information about local anomalies that may result to defects happening in products.”

Spattering happens more in Type One tracks than in Type Two as well, the video evidence concluded.

“The results obtained from this study proves that the method is more than suitable in developing a self-learning assistance system which can help in detecting spatter as the product is being made layer by layer,” concludes Shaurya. “Also, the robustness of PCA methodology used in this study can be easily verified by associating it with a statistical descriptor called Hotelling’s T2 distance which gives a spatial mapping against the pixel location using principal components which contribute most towards the video file and restricting loss of the information too.”

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