Mechanical properties of parts formed by laser additive manufacturing

Additive manufacturing (AM) also known as direct digital manufacturing (DDM) is the focus of two symposia at MS&T 2011. David Bourell will review efforts to predict, measure, control, and report mechanical properties with emphasis on three laser-based AM processes: stereolithography, laser sintering, and powder-based deposition processes. Co-authors Mool Gupta, Tyson Baldridge, and Chen-Nan Sun report on the investigation of laser and electron-beam sintering and cladding for processing ultrahigh-temperature ZrB2 and ZrB2-based ceramic metal composites. Co-authors Jyotirmoy Mazumder and Sudip Bhattacharyya and Bhaskar Dutta review the mechanical properties of materials and critical microstructures of a number of ferrous and nonferrous alloys produced by direct metal deposition (DMD), an AM processes developed at University of Michigan and marketed by the POM Group.