Laser Foil Printing

Sponsor: Department of Energy

 

Description

The aim of this project is to develop a new metal additive manufacturing (AM) technology, called Laser Foil Printing (LFP), for fabricating three-dimensional metal parts. Instead of using metal powders like most existing AM technologies, this method uses metal foils as the feedstock. For the building of each layer, this additive manufacturing process consists of laser spot welding followed by laser raster-scan welding, both using a continuous-wave infrared laser, and then laser cutting using a pulsed ultraviolet laser, and finally mechanical polishing of the elevated edge caused by laser machining. The constructed LFP system has been demonstrated to fabricate amorphous and crystalline metal parts, with the part materials including Zr-based metallic glass, 304L stainless steel, Al 1100, and AISI 1010. The LFP technology presents a relatively clean manufacturing environment with no nanoparticle inhalation and dust exposition hazards, low material cost, and high tensile strength compared to laser AM technologies using metal powders as the feedstock.
  1. "A Foil-Based Additive Manufacturing Technology for Metal Parts" C. Chen, Y. Shen, H-L. Tsai, ASME Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering, Vol. 139(2): 024501, February 2017.
  2. “3D printing of large, complex metallic glass structures” Y. Shen, Y. Li, C. Chen, H-L. Tsai, Materials & Design, Vol. 117, March 2017, pp. 213-222.
  3. “Building metallic glass structures on crystalline metal substrates by laser-foil-printing additive manufacturing” Y. Li, Y. Shen, C. Chen, M. C. Leu, H-L. Tsai, Journal of Materials Processing Technology, Vol. 248, October 2017, pp. 249-261.
  4. “Building Zr-based metallic glass part on Ti-6Al-4V substrate by laser-foil-printing additive manufacturing” Y. Li, Y. Shen, M. C. Leu, H-L. Tsai, Acta Materialia, Vol. 144, February 2018, pp. 810-821.
  5. “Additive manufacturing of Zr-based metallic glass structures on 304 stainless steel substrates via V/Ti/Zr intermediate layers” Y. Li, Y. Shen, C-H. Hung, M. C. Leu, H-L. Tsai, Materials Science and Engineering: A, Vol. 729, June 2018, pp. 185-195.
  6. “Mechanical properties of Zr-based bulk metallic glass parts fabricated by laser-foil-printing additive manufacturing” Y. Li, Y. Shen, M. C. Leu, H-L. Tsai, Materials Science and Engineering: A, Vol. 743, January 2019, pp. 404-411.
  7. “Enhanced mechanical properties for 304L stainless steel parts fabricated by laser-foil-printing additive manufacturing” C-H. Hung, A. Sutton, Y. Li, Y. Shen, H-L. Tsai, M. C. Leu, Journal of Manufacturing Processes, Vol. 45, September 2019, pp. 438-446.
  8. “Aluminum Parts Fabricated by Laser-Foil-Printing Additive Manufacturing: Processing, Microstructure, and Mechanical Properties” C-H. Hung, Y. Li, A. T. Sutton, W-T. Chen, X. Gong, H. Pan, H-L. Tsai, M. C. Leu, Materials, Vol. 13, No. 2, January 2020.
  9. “The effect of laser welding modes on mechanical properties and microstructure of 304L stainless steel parts fabricated by laser-foil-printing additive manufacturing” C-H. Hung, W-T. Chen, M. H. Sehhat and M. C. Leu, Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, Vol. 112, November 2020, pp. 867-877.