Laser beam melting (LBM) system for additive manufacturing of components

BAM is researching new processes for additive manufacturing, such as laser beam melting for metallic components.

Source: BAM

Using 3D printing for safety-relevant applications

More and more companies are investing in additive manufacturing in order to produce high-quality and complex components faster and more efficiently. However, reliable criteria and procedures for the testing and quality assurance of additively manufactured components are still lacking. This makes their use in safety-relevant applications, such as the production of aircraft parts or in medical technology, currently still very complex.

This is where BAM's Additive Manufacturing Competence Center comes in: It pools our interdisciplinary expertise in additive manufacturing technology, materials analysis and non-destructive material testing in order to make the use of additively manufactured components in safety-relevant applications suitable for industrial use.

Comprehensive expertise and excellent research infrastructure

BAM has state-of-the-art facilities for additive manufacturing processes for metals and develops its own processes for ceramic and cement-based materials. From the starting materials to the end product, the material properties of additively manufactured components can be comprehensively determined and tested, including under mechanical, thermal and corrosive stresses.

AM@BAM: Services and competences

Our services include:

  • Additive manufacturing of metallic, ceramic and cement-based materials
  • State-of-the-art infrastructure for metals: laser beam melting (L-PBF), laser powder cladding (LMD), arc generation (WAAM), binder jetting
  • Optimization of additive manufacturing processes and process development
  • Evaluation of process influences such as heat treatments and machining post-processing
  • Non-destructive material characterization
  • Corrosion testing
  • Comparative and interlaboratory tests

Our fields of competence

  • Characterization of material properties
  • Component behavior and test concepts
  • Process development
  • Process monitoring
Illustration: BAM's fields of competence in additive manufacturing

BAM's fields of competence in additive manufacturing

Source: BAM

BAM is closely networked with industry in order to quickly transfer the scientific findings into applications. For example, the competence center works together with the Werner-von-Siemens Centre for Industry and Science in Berlin.

Selected projects

QI-Digital - New solutions for a modern, agile quality infrastructure (QI)

HTA – Sustainable additive manufacturing for high-temperature applications

QT-LPA - Temperature measurement in laser powder build-up welding using multispectral emissivity prediction

SupLeichtAF - Structurally optimized lightweight structures through additive manufacturing in a powder bed

KaRAt – Kaltrisssicherheit und Additive Fertigung

Find BAM research projects in the field of materials and other topics in the ReSEARCH BAM database

Selected publications

Additive Manufacturing at BAM: Safety in focus / brochure, 03/2019 (PDF, 4MB)

„Elastic modulus data for additively and conventionally manufactured variants of Ti-6Al-4V, IN718 and AISI 316 L“, in: Scientific Data, 2023

“Evolution of Creep Damage of 316L Produced by Laser Powder Bed Fusion”, in: Advanced Engineering Materials, 2023

“A deep learning framework for defect prediction based on thermographic in-situ monitoring in laser powder bed fusion”, in: Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing, 2023

“Influence of post-process heat treatments on the fatigue crack propagation behaviour of a PBF-LB/M AlSi10Mg alloy”, in: International Journal of Fatigue, 2023

Further publications can be found in our database PUBLICA.

Further information

further information