Smart Fusion

Advanced process control for support reduction

The new EOS process control solution includes first-of-its-kind, real-time intelligent heat management, reducing or eliminating support structures and performing 2x-5x faster than other additive manufacturing (AM) technologies.

Smart Fusion is the latest addition to EOS’ commitment of advancing and promoting metal additive manufacturing through innovative solutions that simplify the production process, save costs, and increase productivity. 

How Smart Fusion is changing your manufacturing process

Our Smart Fusion software solution automatically modifies metal EOS AM system laser power in real time to address potential manufacturing issues quickly and efficiently. The technology measures the laser energy absorbed by the powder bed and adjusts it using advanced algorithms. As a positive side effect, support structures, which would be mandatory in other metal AM applications, can be avoided. This not only eliminates slower build times, but also lowers your cost-per-part (CPP) through reduced post-processing and material usage.


Thanks to Smart Fusion software, more industries can leverage a positive business case for metal AM applications, especially for companies with highly technical components such as energy, space tech, mobility, and aerospace. At its core, Smart Fusion pairs with EOS existing monitoring solutions and employs advanced algorithms to monitor the build layer-by-layer, providing homogeneous, consistent parts. From a dataflow perspective, EOSPRINT prepares the data, which is sent to the 3D printer. Smart Fusion continuously adjusts the laser based on its optical tomography camera.

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Key benefits of Smart Fusion

  • Intelligent heat management with closed loop in real time
    With our smart monitoring system package, we’ve addressed one of the significant drawbacks of the metal AM market. As we use layer-by-layer sensor data to adapt process parameters in real time, there’s no more need for additional cooldown times that could slow down the overall build time.
     
  • Shorter time to market
    Our proprietary technology includes automation features that help engineers find the right parameters faster. This shortens the time to market for new products, which is essential for businesses that have to remain competitive.
     
  • Reduced waste
    By reducing the need for support structures, Smart Fusion also reduces the amount of waste produced during the manufacturing process. This is both environmentally friendly and cost-effective.
     
  • Flexibility in design
    With Smart Fusion, engineers have greater flexibility in their designs. This means that more use cases can be considered for manufacture with positive business cases, and more legacy applications can be made viable without needing to change their design.
     
  • Reduction of cost-per-part
    CPP makes industrial 3D printing more attractive for supply chain integration. This leads to greater adoption of the technology and more widespread use in the manufacturing industry. 

Working principle of Smart Fusion

EOSTATE Exposure OT is used to monitor the thermal behavior of parts in each layer. A controller then determines the laser power correction factors that are necessary to maintain a homogeneous heat distribution. In the next layer, these correction factors are considered, and the laser power is adjusted accordingly. 

This process repeats layer by layer at a high optical resolution of approx. 100 µm. The number of iterations needed to get a part right is reduced to one, along with the possibility to reduce support structures within the application.

 

Results:

  • Drastically reduce the support structures on a bracket.
  • Produce an aerospace fuel tank with a zero-degree overhang without any support structures.
  • Enable production of a large impeller.

 

Want to learn more? Get the free Whitepaper here.