A Method to Eliminate Anchors/Supports from Directly Laser Melted Metal Powder Bed Processes

Metal powder bed AM processes have a significant drawback in that they require anchors/supports to hold overhanging features down during laser processing. This severely restricts the geometries that the processes can make, adds significant time and cost to production and reduces throughput as parts cannot be easily stacked in the build bed. A method to eliminate the need for these anchors/supports has been invented and will be described. Early parts made without anchors will be shown and next steps for research will be discussed.