A joint analysis staff from the Korea Institute of Industrial Know-how, led by Kim Keon-hee, principal researcher of the Purposeful Materials Elements Group, and Lee Ho-nyeon, principal researcher of the New Industrial Elements Analysis Division, has developed an SLM course of that doubles the layering pace of titanium supplies whereas concurrently enhancing high quality.
Titanium is extensively used as a key materials within the medical and aerospace industries on account of its glorious power and corrosion resistance. Nonetheless, one downside of the SLM course of was the lengthy layering time. Along with this, because the layered materials grew to become thicker, it was troublesome to safe enough properties on account of inadequate power supply, leading to defects similar to porosity.
The analysis staff developed course of situations that allow speedy titanium layering whereas assembly materials property necessities utilizing solely a single laser warmth supply. They calculated the power required for the titanium powder to totally soften and solidify, and exactly measured the power absorption charge, reflecting the laser wavelength. Based mostly on this, they mixed course of variables similar to laser output, scanning pace and interval, and layering thickness to derive an optimized power density for layering.
Utilizing the know-how developed by the Korea Institute of Industrial Know-how analysis staff, the layering time for a median adult-sized thoracic implant was lowered from 5 days to three days.
“This know-how has shortened the manufacturing time for patient-specific medical units, permitting us to cut back the ready time for surgical procedures of essential sufferers,” mentioned Kim Keon-hee. “We plan to broaden the know-how to numerous metallic supplies similar to aluminum, nickel, and iron alloys, and to hold out follow-up analysis to broaden its utility past medical to superior element fields, together with aerospace, automotive, and protection.”
