Conclusion

Powder-bed fusion (PBF-LB) has now reached a level of industrial maturity that makes it a leading additive manufacturing process for producing complex, high-value-added metal parts. A detailed analysis of the entire value chain—from raw materials to post-processing and inspection operations—highlights that the final performance of components depends not only on the manufacturing stage but on comprehensive control of the process’s entire value chain.

The metallurgical characteristics of materials produced by PBF-LB—marked by fine, anisotropic, and out-of-equilibrium microstructures—serve both as a performance driver and a source of complexity. Defects inherent to the process—such as porosity, residual stresses, surface roughness, and microstructural inhomogeneities—require a rigorous approach to design (DFAM), parameter tuning, powder control, and thermal post-processing....