Ideal Selection of the Most Suitable Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) Scheme for Medical Applications Using Multi-criteria Decision Making (MCDM) Techniques
N. Nag, M. Chandra, K.H. Kazami, A.K. Shukla and S.K. Sharma
Additive manufacturing (AM) can produce geometrically complicated products with a high level of personalization. Environmental considerations such as energy usage is the major concern for sustainable development for the fabrication of parts used for medical application. Metallic medical implant devices or parts require a more customized design, unique mechanical properties, and good surface roughness and morphology. In this study the selection of suitable laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) process among selective laser melting (SLM), direct metal laser sintering (DMLS), and electron beam melting (EBM) have been carried out using the hybrid multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) technique. The most important criteria that affect the LPBF fabricated parts used in medical applications such as hardness, surface roughness, and strength and layer thickness are considered in this study. Energy usage related to the sustainable parameter is also considered. Hybrid-MCDM technique after taking input from previous literature concluded that DMLS can be the best available process among the three considered LPBF processes for medical application. This research will assist the researcher as well as a medical practitioner in selecting the suitable LPBF process to design and develop patient-specific implant parts or devices having desired mechanical properties.
Keywords: Additive manufacturing (AM), laser powder bed fusion (LPBF), medical application, multi-criteria decision making (MCDM), step-wise assessment ratio analysis (SWARA), complex proportional assessment (COPRAS)