Selective powder feeding system in additive manufacturing using laser-induced forward transfer technique

Abstract

In this study, we demonstrate a powder feeding system without a recoater for powder bed fusion-type additive manufacturing. The powder bed fusion system disposes a large quantity of powder, which is filled in the building container. To solve this problem, we developed a selective powder feeding system using laser-induced forward transfer technology. Our system comprised a donor film, laser component, and receiver substrate. The donor film was continuously moved from roll to roll, and the polymer powder was supplied on the lower side of the film with a rotating roller. The powder was transferred from the film surface to the receiver substrate, 3D object building area, by the irradiation of the laser beam with a wavelength of 532 nm. The laser beam was scanned over the scan area on the donor film. By continuously moving the donor film and receiver substrate, the powder layer was stacked on the receiver substrate. From the single-layer stacking experiment, we investigated that the gap between the donor film and receiver substrate strongly depended on the spreading of the powder. Moreover, by stacking 60 times, we acquired the rectangular-shaped powder block with a height of 10 mm. These results pave the way for developing an economical powder bed fusion system with reduced powder waste. • Additive manufacturing system with selective powder feeding was developed. • This system selectively feeds the powder to a 3D model or powder bed without contact by using LIFT technologies. • This selective powder feeder achieves a more economical AM strategy without exposing the powder to high temperatures. • Our results pave the way for developing an economical powder bed fusion system with reduced powder waste.