Automated Manufacturing of Sensor‐Monitored Parts: Enhancement of the laser beam melting process by a completely automated sensor integration

Laser beam melting (LBM) is a powder bed‐based additive manufacturing technique, where metal powders are layerwise and selectively molten into complex geometries. LBM is state of the art in several industries, such as aerospace or medical for the production of metal parts. The automated integration of sensors and actuators during LBM exhibits great potential for manufacturing of function‐integrated metal parts. However, this potential has hardly been exploited until today. This contribution introduces a handling system allowing for automated manufacturing of sensor‐monitored parts by means of LBM. Furthermore, an outlook is given on the potential of sensor integration in multi‐material metal parts using the example of an injection molding part.