Investigation on Electron Beam Melting: Dimensional accuracy and process repeatability

Electron Beam Melting (EBM) is one of a few Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies capable of making full-density functional metallic parts. In particular, the ability of direct fabrications of metallic parts can accelerate product designs and developments in a wide range of metallic-part applications, especially for complex components, e.g., fine network structures, internal cavities and channels, which are difficult to make by conventional manufacturing means. In the field of aerospace industry it is crucial for quality certification purpose that components are produced through qualified and robust manufacturing processes ensuring high product repeatability. The work presented describes the results of an experimental study on the variability in the dimensional accuracy of rectangular parallelepiped samples manufactured in Ti6Al4V by EBM technology. The dimensional accuracy of obtained samples was put into relationship with EBM process parameters, such as orientation, location and height of the sample in the build chamber.