Post processing of AM parts

Dr. Arati Mulay

1
Contents:
Necessity of Post Processing:
• Support Material Removal
• Surface Texture Improvements
• Accuracy Improvements
• Aesthetic Improvements
• Preparation for use as a Pattern
• Property Enhancements

2
 Support Material
Removal

Necessity
Aesthetic of Post Surface Texture
Improvements Improvements
Processing

Accuracy
Improvements
 Support Material

Natural Material Synthetic Material

Processes which provide Processes which do not naturally
natural supports are primarily support parts require synthetic
powder-based and sheet- supports for overhanging features
based processes.

Build Material Secondary Material

Weaker, soluble in a
liquid solution, or
melt at a lower
temperature than the
build material
 Support Material Removal
Support material can be broadly classified into two
categories:

(a) Material which surrounds the part as a naturally-

occurring by-product of the build process (natural
supports), and

(b) Rigid structures which are designed and built to

support, restrain or attach the part being built to a
build platform (synthetic supports).

5
Natural Support Post-Processing:
• Processes which provide natural supports are primarily
powder-based and sheet-based processes.

• Specifically, all powder bed fusion (PBF) and binder printing

processes require removal of the part from the loose powder
surrounding the part; and Bond – then – form sheet metal
lamination processes requires removal of the encapsulating
sheet material.

• In PBF processes, after the part is built it is typically necessary

to allow the part to go through a cool-down stage. The part
should remain embedded inside the powder to minimize part
distortion due to non-uniform cooling. The cool-down time is
dependent on the build material and the size of the part(s).
Once cool-down is complete, there are several methods used
to remove the part(s) from the surrounding loose powder.
6
• Typically, the entire build (made up of loose powder and fused
parts) is removed from the machine as a block and transported to
a “breakout” station where the parts are removed manually from
the surrounding powdered material. Brushes, compressed air,
and light bead blasting are commonly used to remove loosely
adhered powder; whereas, wood-working tools and dental
cleaning tools are commonly used to remove powders which
have sintered to the surface or powder entrapped in small
channels or features. Internal cavities and hollow spaces can be
difficult to clean and may require significant post-processing
time.
Automated powder
removal using
vibratory and
vacuum assist in a
ZCorp 450 machine

7
• Bond-then-form sheet lamination processes, such as laminated
object manufacturing, also require natural support material
removal prior to use. If complex geometries with overhanging
features, internal cavities, channels or fine features are used, the
support removal may be tedious and time-consuming. If cavities
or channels are created, it is often necessary to delaminate the
model at a specific z-height in order to gain access to de-cube
the internal feature; and then re-glue it after removing excess
support materials.

LOM support removal process (de-cubing) process, showing: (a) the

finished block of material; (b) removal of cubes far from the part; (c)
removal of cubes directly adjacent to the part;(d) the finished product
(Courtesy Worldwide Guide to Rapid Prototyping website 8
Synthetic Support Removal:
• Processes which do not naturally support parts require
synthetic supports for overhanging features. In some cases,
such as when using PBF techniques for metals, synthetic
supports are also required to resist distortion. Synthetic
supports can be made from the build material or from a
secondary material.

• The development of secondary support materials was a key

step in simplifying the removal of synthetic supports as these
materials are either weaker, soluble in a liquid solution, or
melt at a lower temperature than the build material.

• The orientation of a part with respect to the primary build axis

significantly affects support generation and removal. If a thin
part is laid flat, for instance, the amount of support material
consumed may significantly exceed the amount of build
material.
9
• The orientation of supports also affects the surface finish of
the part, as support removal typically leaves “witness marks”
(small bumps or divots) where the supports were attached.
Additionally, the use of supports in regions of small features
may lead to these features being broken when the supports are
removed. Thus, orientation and location of supports is a key
factor for many processes to achieve desirable finished part
characteristics.

Flat FDM-produced
aerospace part. White
build material is ABS
plastic and black
material is the water-
soluble

10
 Supports Made from the Build Material:
• All extrusion, direct printing and photopolymer processes
require supports for overhanging structures and to connect the
part to the build platform. Since these processes are used
primarily for polymer parts, the low strength of the supports
allows them to be removed manually. These types of supports
are also commonly referred to as breakaway supports. The
removal of supports from downward-facing features leaves
witness marks where the supports were attached. As a result,
these surfaces may require subsequent sanding and polishing.

Breakaway support
removal for (a) an FDM
part and (b) an SLA part.

11
 PBF and beam deposition processes for
metals and ceramics also typically
require support materials. For these
processes the metal supports are often
too strong to be removed by hand; and
thus the use of milling, band-saws, cut-
off blades, wire-EDM and other metal
cutting techniques are widely employed.

SLM dental framework

Supports Made from Secondary Materials:

For polymers, the most common secondary support materials are
polymer materials which can be melted and/or dissolved in a water-
based solvent. The water can be jetted or ultrasonically vibrated to
accelerate the support removal process. For metals, the most
common secondary support materials are lower melting-
temperature alloys or alloys which can be chemically dissolved in a
solvent (in this case the solvent must not affect the build material).

12
2. Surface Texture Improvements:

Common surface textures are: stair-steps; powder adhesion; fill

patterns from extrusion or beam-based systems; and witness
marks from support material removal.

Stair-stepping is a fundamental issue in layered manufacturing and

is difficult to overcome, although one can choose a thin layer
thickness to minimize error at the expense of build time. Powder
adhesion is also a fundamental characteristic of binder printing,
PBF and powder-based beam deposition processes.

The amount of powder adhesion can be controlled, to some degree,

by changing part orientation, powder morphology and thermal
control technique.

The type of post-processing utilized for surface texture

improvements is dependent upon the desired surface finish
outcome.

13
If a matte surface finish is desired, a simple bead blasting of the
surface can help even the surface texture, remove sharp corners
from stair-stepping and give an overall matte appearance. If a
smooth or polished finish is desired, then wet or dry sanding and
hand-polishing are performed.

In many cases, it is desirable to paint the surface prior to sanding

or polishing. Painting the surface has the dual benefit of sealing
porosity and, by viscous forces, smoothing the stair-step effect;
thus making sanding and polishing easier and more effective.
Several automated techniques have been explored for surface
texture improvements.

Two of the most commonly utilized include tumbling for external

features and abrasive flow machining for, primarily, internal
features. These processes have been shown to smooth surface
features nicely, but at the cost of small feature resolution, sharp
corner retention and accuracy.

14
Accuracy Improvements:
• Error Sources:
• Process-dependent errors affect the accuracy of the X–Y plane
differently from the Z-axis accuracy. These errors come from
positioning and indexing limitations of specific machine
architectures, lack of closed-loop process monitoring and
control strategies, and/or from issues fundamental to the
volumetric rate of material addition (such as melt pool or
droplet size).

• Integration of additive plus subtractive processing is another

method for process accuracy improvement.

• Material-dependent phenomena also play a role in accuracy,

including shrinkage and residual stress-induced distortion.

15
Accuracy Improvements:
• Repeatable shrinkage and distortion can be compensated for
by scaling the CAD model; however, predictive capabilities at
present are not accurate enough to fully understand and
compensate for variations in shrinkage and residual stresses.

• Quantitative understanding of the effects of process

parameters, build style, part orientation, support structures,
and other factors on the magnitude of shrinkage, residual
stress and distortion is necessary to enhance these predictive
capabilities.

• In the meantime, for parts which require a high degree of

accuracy; extra material must be added to critical features,
which is then removed via milling or other subtractive means to
achieve the desired accuracy.

16
Model Pre-processing:

For many AM processes, the position of the part within the build
chamber and the orientation will influence part accuracy, surface
finish and build time. Thus, translation and rotation operations are
applied to the original model to optimize the part position and
orientation.

Pre-process manipulation of the STL model will allow a scale factor

to be used to compensate for the average shrinkage of the process
chain. However, when compensating for average shrinkage, there will
always be some features which shrink slightly more or less than the
average (shrinkage variation).

In order to compensate for shrinkage variation, if the highest

shrinkage value is used then ribs and similar features will always be
at least as big as the desired geometry. However, channels and holes
will be too large. Thus, simply using the largest shrinkage value is
not an acceptable solution.

17
Model Pre-processing:
In order to make sure that there is enough material left on the surface
to be machined, adding “skin” to the original model is necessary.
This skin addition, such that there is material left to machine
everywhere, can be referred to as making the part “steel-safe.”

There are two primary methods for adding a skin to the surface of a
part. The first is to offset the surfaces and then re-calculate all of the
surface intersections. This methodology, though the most common,
has many drawbacks for STL files made up of triangular facets. In
answer to these drawbacks, an algorithm developed for offsetting all
of the individual vertices of an STL file by using the normal
information of all triangles, then reconstructing the triangles by using
new vertex values, has been developed.

In an STL file, each vertex is typically shared by several triangles

whose unit normal vectors are different. When offsetting the vertices
of a model, the new value of each vertex is determined by the unit
normal values of its connected triangles.

18
Aesthetic Improvements:
• Many times AM is used to make parts, which will be displayed
for aesthetic or artistic reasons or used as marketing tools.
• In cases where the color of the AM part is not of sufficient
quality, several methods can be used to improve the part
aesthetics. Some types of AM parts can be effectively colored
by simply dipping the part into a dye of the appropriate color.
• This method is particularly effective for parts created from
powder beds, as the inherent porosity in these parts leads to
effective absorption. If painting is required, the part may need
to be sealed prior to painting. Common automotive paints are
quite effective in these instances.
• Another aesthetic enhancement (which also strengthens the
part and improves wear resistance) is chrome plating.
Following figure shows a SLA part before and after chrome
plating. Several materials have been electro less coated to AM
parts, including Ni, Cu and other coatings.

19
SLA part (a) before and (b) after chrome plating.

20
Preparation for use as a Pattern:
The accuracy and surface finish of an AM pattern will directly
influence the final part accuracy and surface finish. As a result,
special care must be taken to ensure the pattern has the accuracy
and surface finished desired in the final part. In addition, the pattern
must be scaled to compensate for any shrinkage that takes place in
the pattern replication steps.

Property Enhancements:
A common post-processing operation for photopolymer materials is
curing. During processing, many photopolymerization processes do
not achieve complete polymerization. As a result, these parts are put
into a Post-Cure Apparatus, a device that floods the part with UV and
visible radiation in order to completely cure the surface and
subsurface regions of the part. Additionally, the part can undergo a
thermal cure in a low temperature oven, which can completely cure
the photopolymer and in some cases greatly enhance the part’s
mechanical properties.

21
Post processing:

Once the last layer on the part has been built, the prototype need
to have undergo some post processing processes such as
removal of support, cleaning, depowder, drain excessive resin,
post curing in SLA, infiltration of resin/wax, etc.

The post processing is aimed to clean and reinforce the green

part. Additional surface finish procedures such as sanding, sand
blasting, painting or even electroplating are normally employed
for cosmetic prototypes.

22
Existing additive manufacturing technology FDM (Fused
Deposition Method) is the most widely used due to its cost
effectiveness. The parts produced using FDM are having some
lacuna like poor surface finish, porosity and it is not possible to
avoid these problems during manufacturing of parts.

So, it is necessary to go for post processing of FDM printed

parts. There are several post processing techniques available in
market viz. abrasive grinding, direct dipping of part into solvent
solution, vapour polishing, painting, electroplating etc.

Out of these methods, electroplating and painting are time

consuming and costly. Direct dipping and abrasive grinding may
damage the fine details of the part. The vapour polishing using
acetone can be used to have better surface finish with less cost
and time.

23
Existing Solutions and limitations
• Polishing by sand paper to finish the outer surface of the
FDM printed part releases tiny particles in the air causing
pollution and if inhaled, these particles can be very
hazardous. This process is time consuming and costly.

• The printed parts are dipped in chemical solution and taken

out to get finished part. Chemicals like Methyl Ethyl Ketone
(MEK), Di-Methylene Chloride and Acetone can be used to
minimize the roughness of the printed parts. The surface
which comes in contact with chemical gets softened but
there may be chances of damaging the important features of
the part.

• MEK takes around 12 to 15 hours for regaining the outer

surface to its original strength. 24
Existing Solutions and limitations
• Painting the outer surface of printed parts minimizes
roughness. Painting does not smooth the surface in
single coating.
• Electroplating of printed parts deposits a new layer of
metal over the outer surface of the FDM printed parts.
Different electroplating process setup and methods are
required for each different kind of material used.
Electroplating is expensive and time consuming
process.
• One can use Laser for finishing the surface of the
printed part. Laser and its associated system are very
costly.
• Another solution to overcome these problems is Vapor
Polishing.
25
First method is liquid dipping in which the ABS printed parts has to be directly dipped
into the chemicals like MEK (Methyl Ethyl Ketone), Methylene chloride, acetone. As the
chemicals are in direct contact with parts, the important features of the part may get
damage.

Second method is vapour polishing in which vapours of acetone are directed onto the
printed ABS parts. When ABS material come in contact with acetone vapours, it get
dissolved into ABS printed parts and also localised melting at small extent takes place
which gives uniform spreading of ABS to fill the micro gaps.

26
27
Post-Processing (Laser Micromachining Treatment)
The parts which are manufactured by RP become rough due to the
stair-casing effect. The parameters affecting surface finish of RP
built parts are Part Orientation, Layer Thickness, Part Deposition,
Shrinkage of Filament. Therefore, most parts need some finishing
work for further applications. To improve its surface finish quality,
various attempts had been made by several researchers by
applying different post processing techniques. In non-conventional
group, the Laser finishing process is most popular as it gives clean
output as compared with a traditional method.

The main objective of the work is to improve the surface

roughness of FDM built parts by applying localized melting
technique with the help of post processing operation that is
obtained through Laser surface finishing.

28
 Laser Micromachining

In Laser micromachining Galvo scanner are most important

equipment used for rapid and precise positioning of the laser focus
on the work piece. Galvo scanner is rotational drives with high
resolution and acceleration to which laser-grade mirrors are attached.
Typically, Galvo scanner is found with two-axis setups that deflect the
laser beam in two dimensions.
29
 Laser Micromachining

The laser beam can be positioned with pinpoint accuracy and

specified patterns can be traversed by the beam at defined speeds.
The XY contour traced by the laser focus is determined solely by the
scan head’s controller. As Galvo scanner comes with several
advantages at the same time it has one disadvantage i.e. system can’t
control the vertical focal length of laser if surface is freeform.

30
To overcome that disadvantage a study was carried out on fixture
development to control the focal length of laser with respect to free form
surface. The proposed 3D model of fixture is shown in figure below:

Laser Marking
System with
Fixture

Conceptual 3D
Model of Fixture

Figure show the full experimental setup consist of Laser Marking Machine
with mounted fixture on Machine platform.

31
Laser Micromachining
Experimentation for better results

Speed - 10%
Power - 100%

Speed - 10%
Power - 90%

Speed - 10% Laser Surface

Power - 80% Finishing
Speed - 10%
Power - 90%
Speed - 10%
Power - 70%

Speed - 10%
Power - 60%

Speed - 10%
Power - 50%

32
 Agitation tank

• Agitation Tank helps to support material removal of

FDM printed parts printed with QSR support
material.
• In this Process, part is kept if alkaline solution and
agitation is provided. Moving water weakens the
support material and support material is dissolved in
the solution.
• For support removal we have to maintain the
solution temperature up to 70⁰c which we achieve by
using temperature controller and high alkaline
solutions with a pH up to 11.
• For achieving pH of solution, we must add
ECOWORKS powder.
 Agitation tank

Solid Model Actual Prototype

With support After removal of Support

Agitation tank
 Post Processing of Parts Printed with Polyjet
Technology

1. Water Jet Machine : To Remove Support Material from printed part

 Water-Jet

• Water Jet provides easy and fast cleaning of support

material from models printed on Stratasys 3D printing
systems.
• The Water Jet comes equipped with two types of
nozzles, enabling you to choose the flow rate and
pressure suitable for cleaning, both delicate and robust
models.
Water-Jet
 Water-Jet
Water-Jet system components:
Balco Water-Jet cabinet Stand

Nozzle Selection
You select which nozzle to use by turning nozzle selector
valve. For example, in Figure 5, when the selector points to
the right, the spray nozzle is used.
 Water-Jet
Side Door
Place the models in the Water-Jet cabinet
via the side door. Raise and lower the
side door using the handle. To keep the
side door open, tighten the locking screw
on the side. Before starting to clean a
model, make sure the side door is closed.
Foot Pedal
The WaterJet pump starts working as soon as you press the
foot pedal. Make sure the side door is closed before
stepping on the foot pedal. For optimum results, press the
foot pedal down completely and continuously.
 Post Processing of Parts Printed with
Stereolithography (SLA) Technology

1. Washing Station: To wash the part using IPA Solution

2. Curing Station : To strengthen the part printed with SLA Technology

 Washing Stations : Form Wash

• The Form Wash removes uncured resin from the surface

of printed parts by simultaneously soaking and moving
them in a solvent.

• The Form Wash uses either isopropyl alcohol (IPA) or tri

propylene glycol monomethyl ether (TPM) to wash
excess resin which may be sticked to printed part.

• We can set the specific time of washing process

depending upon the size and criticality of the part
 Washing Stations : Form Wash

• Form Wash workflow

1) Open the Form Wash
2) Insert parts
3) Set the wash time
4) Remove parts
5) (if needed): Remove excess resin
6) Remove parts from the build platform
7) Dry parts
Washing Stations : Form Wash
 Curing Stations : Form Cure

• Post-curing maximizes material properties for

stereolithography prints, improving parts’ strength and
performance.

• Form Cure precisely combines heat and 405 nm light to

consistently post-cure prints.

• We have to specify temperature and time in FormCure

as per the size and complexity of the part to be cured.

• Form Cure is designed for curing parts printed on the

SLA 3D printers.
Curing Stations : Form Cure
Post Processing of Parts Printed with Solidscape Wax
3D Printer

• Wax 3D printing Solidscape works on Single jetting

technique of Additive manufacturing. Liquified wax
material (Model and Support) is deposited on bed to print
the part. We can print very precise parts with this
technology.
• To sperate the support material from model material,
post processing need to be carried out.
• Printed part along with support structure is dissolved in
the solution which is heated upto 55°C and stirred for
certain timing until the support get dissolved.
Post Processing of Parts Printed with Solidscape Wax
3D Printer
Thank You !

49