Laser systems change the size of the melt pool in the 3D printing process, therefore, opening the magnetic qualities of the deposited steel. A team of researchers from Switzerland has presented new fiber laser technology that allows overcoming a supposed disadvantage of laser beam-based additive manufacturing of specific materials that produces new alloys with various qualities employed in 3D printed metallic workpieces of high accuracy.
To be more precise, the researchers develop a metallic chessboard 4 mm on a side, where the magnetic checkerboard squares follow nonmagnetic parts. To create such a laser system, it is necessary just to change laser beam power and duration to reverse the metal’s process microstructure leading to the ferromagnetic checkerboard.
Moreover, a type of stainless steel developed some 20 years ago has been used in the development of the new fiber laser system. It should be noted that the steel used includes no nickel and around 1% of nitrogen, herewith, this metal is considered to be non-allergic, therefore, it can be applied in the medicine. The thing is that steel is regarded as a material that is not suitable for 3D laser beam printing because the temperature fastly achieves the melting limit of the laser beam leading to the evaporation of the great part of the nitrogen peaks and the change of steel qualities.
Thus, the disadvantage of 3D printing performed by the fiber laser has been overcome by changing the scanning speed of the laser system and the intensity of the laser beam that allows melting the particles in the metal powder bed modifying he size and lifetime of the liquid melt pool in a specified way. The fiber laser system operates as the laser beam light source emitting at a 1070 nm wavelength at a maximum power of 200 W in a spot size of 55 μm.
The researchers claim that during 3D printing the fiber laser enables to achieve temperatures of more than 2500°C locally that is why it is now possible to vaporize different components of an alloy in a targeted way (manganese, aluminum, zinc, carbon, and other) – it locally modifies the chemical composition of the alloy. Additionally, fiber laser technology can be promising for many other alloys, not only for stainless steel.
The application of 3D laser beam printing promotes the creation of structural components that react locally and in a staggered way to various temperatures. Finally, the ability of fiber lasers to create various alloy compositions with micrometer accuracy is regarded as highly promising in the design of more efficient electric motors.
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