Capable of Producing Component with Size of 1 Meter
The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) announced on Feb. 24 that it has developed a powder bed fusion (PBF) 3D printer capable of producing a component with a size of 1 meter.
Before the development, the maximum size was 0.5 meter. "The maximum laser scanner spread is currently 50 cm or so,” the institute said, adding, "It is practically impossible to develop a scanner larger than that.”
The institute developed parallel expansion, that is, connecting two laser source-scanner sets. "One laser source fixed at a position transmits light with uniformity to cover 0.5 m by 0.5 m through a reflective scanner,” it explained, continuing, "In our development, two laser sources are used along with two scanners to cover 1 m by 1 m, and additional 0.5 m connection can be repeated and the component size is expected to increase to several meters.”
The institute actually produced five different nickel alloy-based prototypes using the printer. "The applications of the technology include reverse engineering, small modular reactor development, space power reactor component development, and many more,” it mentioned.