Beyond the Build Plate: Why Automated Depowdering Is Key to AM Success

July 21, 2025 | Reading time: 5 min

Additive Manufacturing (AM), especially laser powder bed fusion (LPBF), enables incredible innovations like complex, performance-optimized geometries. While EOS provides leading LPBF technology, printing is just one step. 

Successful AM needs a holistic view, including vital post-processing. Depowdering, removing residual powder from printed parts, is critical yet often underestimated. 

The Growing Challenge of Depowdering

As AM designs grow more complex with intricate internal channels, manual depowdering becomes increasingly challenging and unreliable. Common pain points include

Complexity: Manually clearing powder from deep, narrow, or convoluted internal geometries is difficult.
Inconsistency: Dependency on operator skill makes repeatable quality difficult.
Time and cost: Manual processes can bottleneck production, adding significant time and labor costs.
Safety risks: Direct manual handling increases operator exposure to potentially hazardous powders.

Why Depowdering Matters

Complete powder removal is essential for:

Functionality: Trapped powder can impede part function, especially in components like heat exchangers or fluid channels.
Downstream processes: Residual powder can interfere with subsequent steps like heat treatment or surface finishing, compromising final part quality.
Material recovery: Efficiently recovering unused powder is crucial for cost-effectiveness and sustainability in AM operations.
Safety: Handling metal powders, especially reactive materials like titanium, requires careful procedures to mitigate health and safety risks. Minimizing manual handling is paramount.

EOS: Enabling End-To-End Success

EOS is committed to empowering customers throughout their AM journey, beyond providing leading printing technology. We recognize post-processing's importance and recommend best-in-class solutions like Solukon for robust, efficient, and safe AM workflows. Solukon, a pioneer in automated depowdering, is used by EOS internally, demonstrating its efficiency and quality. 

Solukon: Automating and Optimizing Powder Removal

Solukon, the pioneer and market leader of automated depowdering solutions in AM, tackles the challenges of depowdering head-on with intelligent, automated systems designed to deliver consistent, safe, and efficient results. Its patented technology offers a sophisticated solution to the limitations of manual cleaning. Thanks to a longyear partnership with EOS, Solukon’s depowdering solutions are perfectly matched to the EOS printer portfolio ensuring a smooth workflow from printing to postprocessing.

How Solukon Systems Work

Instead of relying on manual shaking or compressed air, Solukon systems automate the process. A part is securely placed inside the Solukon machine. The system then uses programmable, two-axis rotation combined with targeted vibration excitation. This controlled movement efficiently dislodges and removes powder, even from the most complex internal geometries.

For reactive materials, Solukon systems can be inerted by flooding the process chamber with protective gas (like argon), ensuring powder removal is performed safely without oxygen exposure, thus mitigating combustion risks.

Key Advantages of Solukon Technology

Reliable and repeatable cleaning: Programmable movement sequences ensure that the same complex part is cleaned the same way every time, delivering predictable and high-quality results.
EOS compatibility: Solukon offers systems tailored to various build volumes. The Solukon SFM-AT350 and Solukon SFM-AT800-S are particularly well-suited for parts produced on corresponding EOS systems, ensuring seamless integration based on build plate size.
Adaptable cleaning: Different materials and geometries have different needs. Solukon offers variable excitation forms, including targeted knocking to dislodge stubborn powder clumps (common with materials like copper) and gentle ultrasonic excitation for delicate structures.
Intelligent automation with SPR-Pathfinder®: What truly sets Solukon apart is the unique SPR-Pathfinder® software. Using just the part's CAD file, this software simulates the flow of powder and automatically calculates the optimal movement sequence for complete removal within the Solukon system. This eliminates manual programming and turns depowdering into a near "fire-and-forget" process. Crucially, this simulation can be run during the design phase, allowing engineers to verify depowderability before printing to prevent costly failures downstream.
Process transparency: With the optional Digital-Factory-Tool, Solukon systems provide comprehensive sensor monitoring and data logging of the depowdering process. This data can be seamlessly integrated, potentially feeding into the digital dashboards used with EOS equipment for full workflow visibility.
Quality and future-proofing: Representing high-quality German engineering, Solukon systems are built to handle today's toughest depowdering challenges and are designed with future complexity in mind.

Experience the Difference

Efficient post-processing is integral to leveraging the full potential of AM. By automating the critical depowdering step with Solukon, EOS customers can enhance part quality, improve workflow efficiency, increase operator safety, and achieve truly industrialized AM production.

To help our customers explore these benefits, Solukon systems, including the SFM-AT350 and SFM-AT800-S, are available for demonstrations at EOS's Additive Manufacturing Centers in Novi, Michigan, and Pflugerville, Texas. Contact us to learn more about optimizing your post-processing with automated depowdering.