3D printing a set of hubs (or what ever I think of)

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Howard in reply to @Lukas

is that because laser sintered metal is never going to be 100% solid as a material

I didn't know there were degrees of solidness ;)

Do you mean the sintered material will contain more impurities / air pockets / other whatnot would not be present in a forged billet?

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Lukas in reply to @Howard

Yep, precisely that.
Air in the build chamber is removed/replaced with an inert gas before the laser starts its work (steel uses nitrogen, titanium requires argon), but while a forged billet part is 100% 'solid' (or so you'd hope), a 3d-printed part is not.

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Howard in reply to @Lukas

Interesting - why does this happen? And is it possible to make a printer that overcomes this? Or are there post-printing techniques that can be used?

I read that SpaceX is printing their rockets engines.

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