Eight action rules for the orientation of additive manufacturing parts in powder bed fusion: an industry practice

Additive Manufacturing (AM) requires an important preparation usually conducted in a digital environment. Among the various steps of the AM process, part orientation has a critical impact on the final part quality as many constraints have to be considered by an AM expert. This paper tackles the question of which criteria should be taken into consideration for orienting a part at best. This question is answered from two different sources: scientific literature review and industry practice elicitation As an introduction, AM challenges are presented from a user point of view and shows the need for assisting engineers in their AM activity. It is followed by an appraisal of the state of current research about part orientation and highlights objective criteria for its optimization. It is completed with a case study related to an industry practice in Powder Bed Fusion (PBF) captured by means of a specific knowledge elicitation technique. Thanks to iterations with experts, this knowledge capture has led to the formalization of manufacturing rules associated with orientation criteria. The application of these rules testifies to the quality of parts built and marketed day to day by the company. Finally the output from industry practice and scientific literature are discussed and compared and show significant differences.This outcome can be shared as a best practice between PBF operators and could then constitute a basis for computer-based assistance tool to AM practitioners.