TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to additive manufacturing and, more particularly, to powder bed fusion additive manufacturing chamber designs with high throughput capabilities.

BACKGROUND

Traditional component machining often relies on removal of material by drilling, cutting, or grinding to form a part. In contrast, additive manufacturing, also referred to as three-dimensional (3D) printing, typically involves sequential layer-by-layer addition of material to build a part. As more industrial sectors adopt additive manufacturing for product innovation or mass-production tools, limitations of efficiency and throughput remain challenging to overcome. Contemporary powder bed fusion additive manufacturing systems are often operated in a batch-mode style to print an object in a build chamber. Once a print job is completed, a substantial amount of time can be required to move parts to other areas or processing chambers for further work.

