Material Jetting of Aluminium

Material Jetting describes a novel additive manufacturing (AM) process to fabricate parts from aluminium alloys. A drop-on-demand print head deposits molten material layer by layer on a build platform, where it solidifies. If the process conditions are chosen accordingly, the droplets will coalesce on the platform to yield a coherent and dense structure. Compared to state-of-the-art AM processes like Powder Bed Fusion, Direct Energy Deposition or Binder Jetting, Material Jetting shows great potential in terms of higher build rates and lower prices for raw materials. This thesis presents an analysis of the fundamental correlations between thermal process conditions and resulting part properties. It provides a basic understanding of Material Jetting and thus supports machine designers and process developers working on the industrialisation of this novel AM process.