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Polymer laser powder bed fusion (PBF-LB/P) is an additive manufacturing technology that is sustainable due to the possibility of recycling the powder multiple times and allowing the fabrication of gears without the aid of support structures and subsequent assembly. However, there are constraints in the process that negatively affect its adoption compared to other additive technologies such as material extrusion to produce gears. This study aims to demonstrate that it is possible to overcome the problems due to the physics of the process to produce accurate mechanism.

Technological aspects such as orientation, wheel-shaft thicknesses and degree of powder recycling were examined. Furthermore, the evolving tooth profile was considered as a design parameter to provide a manufacturability map of gear-based mechanisms.

Results show that there are some differences in the functioning of the gear depending on the type of powder used, 100% virgin or 50% virgin and 50% recycled for five cycles. The application of a groove on a gear produced with 100% virgin powder allows the mechanism to be easily unlocked regardless of the orientation and wheel-shaft thicknesses. The application of a specific evolutionary profile independent of the diameter of the reference circle on vertically oriented gears guarantees rotation continuity while preserving the functionality of the assembled mechanism.

In the literature, there are various studies on material aging and reuse in the PBF-LB/P process, mainly focused on the powder deterioration mechanism, powder fluidity, microstructure and mechanical properties of the parts and process parameters. This study, instead, was focused on the functioning of gears, which represent one of the applications in which this technology can have great success, by analyzing the two main effects that can compromise it: recycled powder and vertical orientation during construction.

The aim of this research is to reach a deep understanding on the effect of the process parameters of Direct Metal Laser Sintering process (DMLS) on macroscopic properties (hardness and density) of AlSi10Mg parts and resulting microstructure.

A full factorial design of experiment (DOE) was applied to determine the most significant process parameter influencing macroscopic properties of AlSi10Mg parts manufactured by DMLS process. The analysis aims to define the optimum process parameters and deduce the process window that provides better macroscopic properties of AlSi10Mg parts. Optical microscopy observations are carried out to link the microstructure to macroscopic properties.

Macroscopic properties of DMLS parts are influenced by the change in process parameters. There is a close correlation between the geometry of scan tracks and macroscopic properties of AlSi10Mg parts manufactured by DMLS process.

The knowledge of utilizing optimized process parameters is important to fabricate DMLS parts with better mechanical properties. The present research based on applying experimental design is the first analysis for AlSi10Mg parts produced in DMLS process.