Challenges in the development of the Laser Metal Deposition process for use in microgravity at the Einstein-Elevator

Abstract

This paper is about the challenges in developing the Laser Metal Deposition process with metal powder for use in microgravity. The modified gravitational conditions are set up for a few seconds using a drop tower, the Einstein-Elevator of the Leibniz University Hannover. In addition to the drop tower, the specially adapted setup of the experiment will be explained. The samples produced in microgravity during this project will demonstrate the influence of gravity on this additive manufacturing process and on the materials used. Thermal analyses using the Ansys software show how the temperature distribution of the manufactured specimens looks over time and what this means for the execution of the experiment.