Revolutionizing Depowdering in Metal Additive Manufacturing: SPR-Pathfinder® PRO

Problem

Metal additive manufacturing (AM), particularly laser powder bed fusion (LPBF), has unlocked the ability to produce intricate components like heat exchangers with channels thinner than a human hair and rocket combustion chambers with complex regenerative cooling circuits. However, these groundbreaking designs pose significant challenges in depowdering, the critical post-processing step of removing residual powder from internal geometries. In aerospace, residual powder in cooling channels is a certification risk, and in serial production, discovering an undepowderable geometry after printing leads to rework, delays, and increased costs.

Solution

Solukon, a leader in automated depowdering systems, has addressed these challenges with its intelligent depowdering solutions. The company's flagship software, SPR-Pathfinder®, has been the brains behind its depowdering machines, enabling precise and reliable powder removal. However, as LPBF geometries become increasingly complex, the need for more advanced software capabilities has become apparent. Enter SPR-Pathfinder® PRO, a major upgrade developed to tackle the complexities that were previously beyond the reach of automated depowdering.

Key Drivers for SPR-Pathfinder® PRO Development:

• Exceeding Complexity Limits: Certain LPBF parts have surpassed the complexity limits of the standard SPR-Pathfinder® version, necessitating a software upgrade. The new PRO version removes the previous voxel limit of 2.4 million, allowing for a much higher simulation resolution to ensure accurate depowdering of ultra-complex thermal management components and multi-channel aerospace structures.
• Demand for Process Transparency: The metal AM market demands full transparency in the manufacturing process. SPR-Pathfinder® PRO's Digital-Factory-Tool records all relevant depowdering process data, enabling traceability and integration into higher-level digital dashboards via OPC UA. This ensures that manufacturers can explain deviations, prove repeatability, and meet stringent certification requirements.
• Enhanced Design for Depowdering: While Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) optimizes part geometry for printing, Solukon advocates for a similar approach to depowdering. Designing for depowdering involves considering the escape of powder from internal structures from the earliest design stage. This approach reduces post-printing iterations, leads to more predictable lead times, and facilitates repeatable, documentable postprocessing.

"At Solukon, we have always believed that reliable and intelligent automated depowdering can be achieved when machine, process, and software are aligned," says Andreas Hartmann, CEO and CTO. "The parts our customers print today are more complex than ever, and we have grown alongside that ambition."

Results

The SPR-Pathfinder® PRO introduces three key capabilities that set a new standard for depowdering software:

1. Higher Simulation Resolution

The PRO version supports up to 1,000,000 particles, a 20-fold increase over the standard version, and an unlimited number of voxels. This allows for the accurate computation of even the most intricate internal structures, including sub-millimeter channels and densely packed internal surfaces that were previously inaccessible to simulation. The software simulates the part's movement in the same way it will later move during the cleaning step in the Solukon machine, making the process more transparent and easier to understand.

2. Cross-Sectional Inspection in All Planes

SPR-Pathfinder® PRO enables cross-sectional views of the component in all planes (X, Y, and Z), providing operators with full visibility inside the part at any point and from any direction. The granular adjustment of the part's transparency further aids in identifying powder traps and bottlenecks before printing begins.

3. Accurate Process-Time Prediction

For industrial operators, depowdering has often been an unknown variable in production scheduling. SPR-Pathfinder® PRO allows users to specify the exact duration of the calculation and depowdering process in their Solukon system, helping them integrate this into their production schedule and eliminate a costly bottleneck.