ABSTRACT
Additive Manufacturing (AM) has made its way into mainstream science and technology by empowering the designers, manufacturing engineers and users to deliver the product with unlimited complexity and customization. The segment of new-generation AM processes that are capable of delivering metallic components using standard additive manufacturing topology are called ‘Metal Additive Manufacturing’ (MAM), more commonly known as Metal 3-D Printing. It is not just shapes and designs (could not previously even be conceived of) that are now entirely viable, but MAM also could keep the advantages in terms of the structural properties. MAM can build a complete shape in its entirety, by carefully layering and bonding materials together to create the desired outcome in a single step.
Lasers, being one of the most remarkable inventions of the last century, were the first to extend AM to MAM, placing it into a group known as ‘disruptive technologies’. MAM involving lasers is known as Laser Additive Manufacturing (LAM). The system used for LAM requires a high-power laser (100 W–2 kW), a material feeding system (powder spreading, powder or wire feeding) and beam/job handling (3- or 5-axis) station. The list of materials being used in LAM is appending rapidly. Realizing the importance of LAM and allied technologies, a comprehensive research and development programme was initiated in the year 2003 at the Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology (RRCAT). A number of components for engineering and prosthetic applications have been manufactured using LAM. This chapter will provide an overview of the LAM technologies from their history to recent developments including future prospects and recent research trends. At the end of the chapter, the numerical and theoretical problems are included for the quick review of LAM technologies. This chapter is a quick-start for novices to understand this novel technology and a reference document for researchers in the field.
