EOS and nLIGHT pave way for high-throughput LPBF

Even five years ago, if you had asked someone in the metal additive manufacturing industry what one of the key challenges was for laser powder bed fusion, you’d be told speed and throughput. Fortunately, this hurdle is being tackled in real time thanks to the latest hardware and software innovations by segment leaders like EOS and its subsidiary AMCM. These advances are key to industrial end users finding an increasingly viable and mature production technology in LPBF.

One of EOS’ latest advancements has come in the form of a collaboration with nLIGHT, Inc., an American company specializing in high-power semiconductor and fiber lasers. Together, the companies are working to integrate nLIGHT’s advanced beam-shaping fiber lasers into EOS metal 3D printers to improve process control and overall productivity. To date, AMCM, an EOS company that specializes in developing advanced, customized metal AM solutions based on EOS technology, has introduced one platform with the nLIGHT lasers integrated, the AMCM M 290 FLX.

The AMCM M 290 FLX, based on EOS’ M 290 system, has been upgraded for the highest productivity with up to two nLIGHT AFX-1000 lasers. These AFX lasers are programmable and a single laser can be set to seven different beam profiles, ranging from 85 micron spot size to 210 micron ring profile. The smaller the spot size, the finer the detail and contours of the print will be, while the larger ring profiles unlock faster printing rates, as well as increased process stability and minimized soot and spatter during the printing process.

Notably, the nLIGHT AFX lasers can enable users to reach substantially faster production rates for common powder feedstocks like 316L steel and aluminum. The AMCM M 290 FLX, for instance, can achieve up to three times greater productivity for these materials compared to a system with standard 400 W lasers.

To get slightly more technical, nLIGHT explains how its programmable AFX fiber lasers offer such an advantage compared to non-programmable single-mode lasers that are today the standard across most LPBF systems. According to the company, these single-mode lasers are limited in terms of the build rates they can achieve due to their “near-Gaussian beam shape”. By contrast, nLIGHT’s AFX fiber laser has an adjustable beam shape that can be tuned in real time. This degree of laser control, optimized for LPBF, occurs entirely within the fiber laser without the need for free-space optics.

“The AFX-1000 is the world’s first single-mode fiber laser with the beam shaping function performed entirely inside the laser,” said Rob Martinsen, nLIGHT CTO and general manager for additive manufacturing when the AFX-1000 was first introduced in 2020. “Developed for additive manufacturing, AFX enables OEMs and end-users to significantly improve build rates, thereby reducing cost per part. We expect AFX to fundamentally change the economics of AM and promote broader adoption for series production.”

For productivity purposes, the AFX laser’s 210 micron ring profile is not only capable of faster printing through its broader footprint, it has also been proven to stabilize large melt pools, which help to decrease issues like soot and spatter generation. nLIGHT also adds that “Discrete AFX beam profiles can be selected on-the-fly as quickly as 30 times per second, offering new degrees of freedom to control melting and solidification rates, physical microstructure and thermal strain that can lead to stress fractures, a frequent cause of part failure.”

While EOS and nLIGHT plan to roll out the latter’s AFX lasers across EOS’ LPBF portfolio at a later date, the technology is already available in the AMCM M 290 FLX system. As we’ve seen, this adapted metal 3D printer can integrate up to two nLIGHT AFX-1000 lasers for the highest levels of productivity. On top of that, the system can be equipped with EOS’ Fine Detail Resolution (FDR) technology, which enables even finer levels of detail, with a focus down to 55 microns. These advanced features are in addition to EOS’ already established LPBF hardware and software technologies.

“We are always researching industry leading technologies to advance the industrialization of additive manufacturing to meet the emerging application demands and exceed customer expectations,” said Marie Langer, CEO of EOS. “The flexibility and performance gains of nLIGHT’s beam shaping and laser technologies gives us an unprecedented advancement in metal AM systems and will allow our customers to unleash a new level of productivity.”

Ultimately, metal AM users across adopter industries, whether it’s aerospace, automotive or medical, can benefit from this new LPBF function that will allow them to further optimize production workflows and increase throughput while maintaining a high level of quality. The joint effort between EOS and nLIGHT to bring this innovative technology to market is also a prime example of how fostering collaboration in the industrial additive manufacturing sphere can lead to game-changing advancements.

This article was originally published in VoxelMatters’ VM Focus Metal AM eBook. Read or download the full eBook for free at this link.