Laser aided metal additive manufacturing and postprocessing: A comprehensive review

Abstract

In the recent industrial revolution (Industry 5.0), additive manufacturing (AM) will be a very interesting technology, and it is predicted that it will have a significant impact on a wide range of industries in the near future. AM involves many different processing techniques, such as powder bed fusion, directed energy deposition (DED), sheet lamination, and so on, and it can use many different feedstock materials such as metals, polymers, and ceramics. In this chapter, we focused our attention on laser-based AM techniques used to produce metal parts, specifically in selective laser melting and laser-assisted DED techniques. The chapter begins with a classification of lasers and the interaction of lasers with materials. Furthermore, a comprehensive review on the classification of laser-based AM processes, their working principle, relevance of laser processing, need for postprocessing, and a classification of postprocessing techniques are explained in detail. Finally, it is shown that AM processes must be combined in the near future with all traditional manufacturing technologies; however, laser-based AM techniques have an excellent opportunity to influence the current manufacturing sector. © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.