Additive Manufacturing for the Energy Industry

• Production of more than 1,000 gas turbine swirlers per year with qualified industrial production process.
• Lead time for critical component reduced by 20%, with reduced post-processing by 80%.
• Optimized design for AM enables part consolidation from 10 pieces to one single piece.

• 3D-printed gas turbine burners have been “on duty” for more than 8,000 operating hours in E.ON’s plant, which provides electrical energy and steam for a potash mine.
• The burners were manufactured in Finspång, Sweden. Each burner is manufactured in one piece, whereas they used to require 13 individual parts and 18 welds.
• "As an energy service provider, precision and durability of our turbines are absolute necessities for us," says Niklas Lange, project manager at E.ON Energy Projects. "In our experience, additive manufacturing delivers this and even improves performance compared to older models.”

Selective laser melting (SLM), also known as direct metal laser melting (DMLM) or laser powder bed fusion (LPBF), is a rapid prototyping, 3D printing, or additive manufacturing (AM) technique designed to use a high power-density laser to melt and fuse metallic powders together. SLM is often considered a subcategory of selective laser sintering (SLS). The SLM process has the ability to fully melt the metal material into a solid three-dimensional part unlike SLS.