Good software is essential to getting the most from a metal 3D printer: if you can control the laser power in powder bed fusion dynamically, you can eliminate trial-and-error printing by ensuring homogenous energy distribution across the build platform. This reduces stress in the parts as well as the chance of overheating and subsequent distortion.
The latest advancement in this arena comes from EOS in the form of its Smart Fusion software. According to the company, the software’s real-time adjustments to laser power eliminate the need for most support structures, which reduces post-processing requirements and thereby lowers the cost-per-part for metal additive manufacturing.
Beta testing by EOS customers saw performance two to five times faster than competing metal additive manufacturing software. The key to this performance increase is a special high-resolution camera positioned above the build chamber that monitors the meltpool emissions at each layer of the build and feeds that data back to the laser for adjustment.
Smart Fusion pairs with the existing monitoring solutions from EOS, such as EOSPRINT. The latter prepares the data which is sent to the 3D printer, where Smart Fusion works with EOSTATE and its Optical Tomography camera to monitor the meltpool and adjust the laser as needed.
“When we learned about Smart Fusion and started to test it several month ago, we knew it would be a game changer,” said Stefan Seidel, CTO at Pankl Racing Systems, in the EOS press release. Pankl manufactures parts for auto racing, aerospace, and other high-performance applications. “Not only does it significantly reduce the part cost, but it is also a facilitator in the use of optical tomography which, in our view, is a key element to introduce AM for serial production.”
Smart Fusion is available for €27,000/$29,262 for the EOS M 290 or €38,000/$41,184 for the EOS M 300-4 and EOS M 400-4. It requires the Smart Monitoring System package, and is compatible with the following materials:
EOS M 290: Inconel IN718 HiPro 40/80µm, Titanium Ti64 60µm and Aluminum AlSi10Mg 60µm (late 2023)EOS M 300-4: Inconel IN718 HiPro 80µm, Titanium Ti64 60µm (late 2023) and Aluminum AlSi10Mg 60µm (late 2023)
EOS M 400-4: Inconel IN718 HiPro 40/80µm, Titanium Ti64 60µm and Aluminum AlSi10Mg 40/80µm
EOS will continue to expand Smart Fusion’s availability in the coming months, including AMCM systems.