Production of high integrity components must use smart manufacturing methods to be efficient in use of scarce materials and other resources, and must ensure its environmental impact is minimized. Advanced manufacturing techniques, such as metal powder bed 3D printing , can be carried out by selective laser melting (SLM) or electron beam melting (EBM). In both cases the component is built layer by layer, with a beam as an intense energy source drawing each layer by melting powder. EBM is significantly faster than SLM and has been used to create metal parts in large quantities over the past 5 years. EBM machines have produced many tens of thousands of orthopedic implants. There are a number of key benefits in employing this manufacturing technology – including ‘complexity for free’, efficient use of material and flexibility of design. Increasingly, the aerospace industry is investigating the use of EBM for the manufacture of aircraft components and aero engine parts. However, the size of many of these components presents challenges to the EBM process in production rate and quality consistency over long build times (i.e. 150 hours).

The aim of this work is to overcome key obstacles concerning future requirements for EBM 3D printing for production of aerospace parts through the integration of two enabling technologies. The work will develop and integrate a novel plasma cathode electron source with an EBM machine focusing on realizing the enhanced capabilities of low maintenance, consistent manufacturing performance and higher productivity. Also, development and integration of an array probe device will provide quantified quality assurance of machine manufacturing readiness. The key research challenges will be the design of the electron source and optics and the development of new build procedures making best use of the new source.

The equipment will enable the wider adoption of EBM leading to efficient use of materials – particularly strategic titanium alloys and nickel based super alloys at first.

Since the commercial introduction of Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies more than two decades ago, considerable advancements in processing speed, accuracy, resolution and capacity have been achieved and the available AM materials have expanded considerably, enabling customized end-use products to be directly manufactured for a wide range of applications. Many AM technologies have been released that use different processes for fabricating the individual layers from a variety of liquid, solid, and powder-based materials ranging from photoreactive polymers to metals. In 2000, the University of Texas at El Paso identified AM as an emerging technology and invested strategically in establishing the W.M. Keck Center for 3D Innovation (Keck Center). The Keck Center has grown to occupy over 13,000 sq. feet with more than 50 commercial and experimental AM machines, representing 10 system manufacturers, nine distinct layer processing methods, and several custom AM-based patented and patent-pending systems. One particular focus of Keck Center research is on developing the methods and systems required to have automated control over material placement and structure creation, leading to, for example, the realization of complex 3D devices that integrate electronics and thus intelligence within mechanical structures as well as 3D spatially complex bioactive, implantable, tissue engineered constructs. There are myriad issues associated with combining multiple materials to create functional products – from the deposition and processing of different materials to the combined performance of the materials in the resulting product. Despite these issues, the opportunities for AM in aerospace, defense, biomedical, energy and enumerable other applications continue to expand as the achievable length scales in AM decrease, the number of materials available for use in AM increases, the performance of these materials are characterized and controlled in the final product, and new strategies for integrating AM with other manufacturing technologies are successfully demonstrated.