Serial Production with EBM
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Date
2010
Authors
Ljungblad, U.
Hultman, A.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Texas at Austin
Abstract
Department
Description
Moving from prototyping to production is a major challenge for the additive
manufacturing industry. It requires a robust and reliable technology having high and
verifiable repeatability. The transition into production is not possible without the
technology being capable of sustaining a high product quality as well as productivity in
par or better than traditional manufacturing.
Electron Beam Melting (EBM) has since 2007, been used for manufacturing of CE-certified standard orthopedic implants with more than 20’000 units produced in several
EBM systems. High productivity combined with process stability has been key factors for
this application to emerge. Added product value in form of engineered surface porosity
has been vital to promote the step into serial production.
Development of EBM has been focused on system reliability, process stability,
material quality, productivity and means for process validation to reach proven
requirements for production. Statistical process control (SPC) has been a very powerful
tool to carry out this development in an efficient way.