Abstract:
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Abstract
Additive manufacturing is contrary to subtractive and formative manufacturing methodologies, the process of joining materials to make parts from 3D model data, usually by layer upon layer mechanism. Selective laser melting (SLM) technology also falls in the domain of additive manufacturing; it has a wide range of applications and is crucial in the development of high-performance and complex structural materials. It comes under the field of additive manufacturing, in which metal powders are melted and fused together with a high-power density laser. In this project, the goal was to control the mechanism related to the motion of powder deposition and layer movement. A 3-dimensional layer by layer mechanism is controlled by the Arduino-controlled stepper motor system. An interface to control both the motors is set up by using a "Processing," and this software interface is controlling the mechanism by serial communication with Arduino. Initiation of the process requires control of a layer deposition mechanism which is a z-axis-based mechanism controlled by a stepper motor and is required to step up and down the worktable for layer deposition mechanism and using motor driver by micro-stepping the required layer size is achieved. Another stepper motor is used to control the powder deposition by coupling a stepper motor to a shaft for moving an arm-connected hopper. This powder deposition mechanism is controlled and moved relative to the laser engraver's processing time. After the processing of the laser is done, the worktable will step down, and powder will be deposited and processed. The process will repeat till the completion of the part.
