A class of additive manufacturing process that use a thin beam of energy, usually a laser or electron beam, to draw on the top layer of a bed of powder. The powder is melted as the beam traces over the top layer, and when the energy is moved to a new location, the melted material solidifies and fuses with the solid material underneath or with adjacent fused material on the layer. After a layer is created, the build plate descends by the layer thickness and a new layer of powder is spread over the just created layer. This process is repeated for every layer in the part.
One of the defined standard categories of ASTM additive manufacturing processes.
Abbreviated as PBF.
Categories: Additive Manufacturing Processes, Powder Bed Fusion
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