Fundamental Requirements for Data Representations in Laser-Based Powder Bed Fusion

Additive Manufacturing (AM) processes intertwine aspects of many different engineering-related disciplines, such as material metrology, design, in-situ and off-line measurements, and controls. Due to the increasing complexity of AM systems and processes, data cannot be shared among heterogeneous systems because of a lack of a common vocabulary and data interoperability methods. This paper aims to address insufficiencies in laser-based Powder Bed Fusion (PBF), a specific AM process, data representations to improve data management and reuse in PBF. Our approach is to formally decompose the processes and align PBF process-specifics with information elements as fundamental requirements for representing process-related data. The paper defines the organization and flow of process information. After modeling selected PBF processes and sub-processes as activities, we discuss requirements for the development of more advanced process data models that provide common terminology and process knowledge for managing data from various stages in AM.