Safety Relief Valves in Additive Manufacturing

Perfect Atmosphere inside the Process Chamber: Controlled Print

At the beginning of the 3D printing process, the process chamber is flooded with argon. While the machine’s lasers operate, however, this atmosphere changes: Smoke fumes are created which endanger optimal conditions on the working surface. To ensure a perfect melting process, therefore, a circulation of the protective gas and a constant compensation takes place, but which could potentially lead to uncontrolled pressure increase in the process chamber. The delicate glass optics of the lasers would be damaged by increased pressure. Highly sensitive Safety Relief Valves of the series AV 919 from WITT therefore keep the chambers’ pressure constant: they open exactly to the set opening pressure and close immediately when the nominal value is again reached. The atmosphere in the process chamber thus remains in the optimum ratio.

"The WITT Safety Relief Valve AV 919 is certainly only a small component of our machines. But without a blow-off valve, which is exactly manufactured according to our individual requirements regarding material and low opening pressure, we could not control the pressure in the process chamber precisely enough," says Andreas Wiesner, Leader for process and material development at SLM Solutions Group AG.

For Andrew Smart, Head of Sales for Gas Safety Devices at WITT, this reflects the core competence of his team: "We design and manufacture small components with great effect. Complex applications and new technologies also require precision and reliability, which we take seriously. "

SLM Solutions Group AG uses the WITT Safety Relief Valve AV 919 made of aluminum with an opening pressure of 80 mbar / 1.16 psi.