Reliability Studies of Direct Metal Laser Sintered Components

Direct Metal Laser Sintering is one of the popular techniques of layered manufacturing. The application of rapid prototyped components, in more demanding application requires a better understanding of their physical and mechanical properties. This research examined Weibull reliability and multi-objective optimization of metal parts using DMLS. Components were manufactured with selected process parameters were machined to standard test specimens for different mechanical tests like fatigue, tensile, compression, hardness and wear. Microstructural studies were also carried out. The Weibull analysis for reliability studies shows that all the tests for mechanical properties followed the standard Weibull distribution plot and were considered as a good design for Weibull analysis. Functional testing of DMLS components was carried out on a few applications and test results show that DMLS components are comparable with components manufactured by conventional method. The proposed method is efficient and gives a better result for components manufactured by DMLS technology for functional application.