Powder-bed based 3D-printing of function integrated parts

One big advantage of additive manufacturing technologies is the possibility to create function integrated parts during the manufacturing process. This applies to mechanical functions like movable elements, switches or springs, thermodynamic functions like isolating areas or contour near cooling channels in a part as well as electrical functions like conductive lines and active or passive components. In this paper, recent research results concerning the integration of different elements in a 3D-printed part during the additive manufacturing process and their fields of application are presented. A powder-bed based 3D-printer and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) as base material is used for production. The base material is processed by a recoater mechanism to create a plane powder-bed. To enable new functionalities, an automated exhausting mechanism was implemented into the test system. The results of preliminary investigations on integrating attachment elements creating reinforced parts as well as electrical circuits are presented and discussed.