Metal Additive Manufacturing (AM) Research Facility

The NIST Metal Additive Manufacturing (AM) Research Facility includes two commercial metal-based AM systems located in two different buildings on the main NIST campus.  These systems build parts from metal powders using two different additive manufacturing processes: Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS), a type of powder bed fusion process, and Binder Jetting (BJ), a process in which a liquid bonding agent is selectively deposited to join powder materials. 

The DMLS system has the capability to build parts from stainless steel, aluminum, titanium alloy, nickel alloy, and cobalt-chrome powders in either a Nitrogen or Argon environment (the argon environment at NIST is still in development). This system has the following features:

• Standard STL data input from 3D CAD model
• 250 mm x 250 mm x 215 mm build volume
• Capable of processing powders in the size range of 50 micrometers to 60 micrometers
• Capable of processing powders with 20 micrometer layer thickness
• 200 W Yb-fiber laser, 1060 – 1100 nm wavelength

The BJ machine has the capability to build parts from stainless steel, bronze, and tungsten powders in an atmospheric environment. This system has the following features:

• Standard STL data input from 3D CAD model
• 40 mm x 60 mm x 35 mm build volume
• Capable of processing with variable layer thickness down to 50 micrometers
• 1 minute/layer build speed
• 65 micrometer resolution in horizontal plane, 100 micrometer resolution in vertical direction

NIST research in this facility is focused on developing measurement science solutions for characterizing powders, processes, machines, and manufactured parts, as well as introducing process monitoring and control methods to improve the quality and reproducibility of the parts resulting from the processes.