Post-processing and machining of Ti6Al4V coupons fabricated using various metal additive manufacturing technologies

Abstract

A cost and accuracy analysis were conducted on four different additive manufacturing techniques: selective laser melting (SLM), electron beam melting (EBM), direct metal deposition (DMD) and wire and arc additive manufacturing (WAAM). A model component was designed with several key engineering features to allow a direct comparison between the four additive manufacturing technologies and conventional machining. The total cost of manufacturing the model component using four additive manufacturing technologies was broken down into several different aspects. It has been identified that SLM and EBM systems are on par with cost alone based on this study. The accuracy of the SLM and EBM systems was measured using a coordinate measuring machine to establish the quality of the component. SLM produced the most accurate component and given that the cost to manufacture for EBM and SLM were similar and the lowest of the four technologies, SLM was deemed to be the most cost effective additive manufacturing technology, based on this study.