3D-printing capabilities at FBH - new opportunities in rapid prototyping

Additive manufacturing is a key technology that is shaping the future of industrial manufacturing. 3D-printed parts allow us to create innovative, complex, and functional shapes, which are not easily achievable with conventional industrial tools. This revolutionary technology saves time and money in the product development process by allowing faster design iterations, thus helping to bring products faster to the market. Furthermore, additive manufacturing is increasingly becoming an indispensable technology for light-weight construction to improve energy and resource efficiency.

FBH’s Prototype Engineering Lab effectively uses 3D printing machines capable of printing metals, such as aluminum and steel as well as a wide variety of plastics to drive our rapid prototyping processes. Operated by dedicated and experienced personnel, we use a laser powder bed fusion technology to further miniaturize modules or introduce novel features into the mechanical systems. One such example is an extremely compact kilowatt-class direct diode laser process head for use in additive manufacturing that is developed together with FBH’s High-Power Diode Lasers Lab as part of the SAMBA project. Among other applications, the laser process head will be used to produce customized side panels for high-speed trains with significantly reduced weight.

In order to automate the process, the direct diode laser process head will be integrated into a maneuverable robotic arm, and the unit should have a total weight that is as low as possible. We have therefore extensively used 3D printing in the prototyping process. For example, using additive manufacturing, we designed and fabricated efficient light-weight stainless-steel cooling liquid connectors with integrated flow-optimized channels to cool the high-power diode laser stacks. Using this new geometry, which cannot be milled or drilled, we are able to double the coolant flow rate into the diode laser head at a given pump pressure, enabling the use of compacter and lower-cost chillers. Furthermore, we used custom 3D-printed stainless-steel frames for holding and positioning the laser optics, hence creating both a lightweight and stable mounting system for the alignment of the optical components. As a result, the first SAMBA prototype is compact and low-weight, with exterior dimensions of 21 cm x 29 cm x 61 cm with a total weight of 12.5 kg, which includes the wire feeding system, process monitoring camera as well as the electrical and liquid-cooling connections. Further reductions in the size and weight of the process head are expected in successive generations based on ongoing optimization of the diode lasers, the optical system, and the related mechanical components.

This work was supported through the "AMBER ProFIT Innovation" project SAMBA which is co-financed from 2023 - 2024 with funds from the European Fund for Regional Development (ERDF) Berlin, under contract number 10193579.

Publication

H. Alder, U. Elliesen, A. Knaub, A. Schultze, M. Rozycki, M. Hübner, B. Eppich, L. Wittenbecher, J. Zender, N. Lobo-Ploch, P. Crump; “Pursuing innovative approaches for AM applications, based on latest progress in direct diode technology, e.g. 780 nm for aluminum processing”, ICALEO 2023 proceedings.