NOVEMBER 20239MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY INSIGHTSgreat upside to additive manufacturing, especially laser powder bed fusion and DED, is the ability to recycle and reuse non-sintered powder from previous jobs. There are ways to properly maintain lot control of your powders and reclaim most of the unused powder after each print.Additive manufacturing is a great addition for many companies to add to their manufacturing repertoire; however, it's important to know and understand its limitations. Metal AM is still relatively new, so there is a limited selection of materials and data available for purchase. It is also challenging to track and maintain good material lot control, especially when there are a lot of printers and different materials in one location. The powdered metal material used in laser powder bed fusion, binder jet, and some types of DED also tends to have health and safety risks that are not present with wrought or cast metal feedstock. If not handled properly, aluminum powder can be dangerous and is considered a chemical of interest for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The buying and storing of aluminum powders on-site requires regular audits by DHS. It is important to remember that, like any other manufacturing technique, additive manufacturing needs to make sense for your application. As the industry grows and specifications and guidelines are established, it is important to educate customers on the benefits of additive manufacturing and work with those customers early in the design process to determine if it fits the product and choose the best metal additive technology to fit the tolerances, part size, and budget. If you have any questions or if would like Boyd's additive manufacturing team to look at your heat exchanger or liquid cooling solution design, please contact Gardner Trask at gardner.trask@boydcorp.com. Additive manufacturing has also opened the door to designing geometry that would otherwise be impossible to create at minimal to no added cost for the increasing complexity
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