Additive Manufacturing processes are constantly gaining more influence. The layer-wise creation of solid components by joining formless materials allows tool-free generation of parts with very complex geometries. Laser Beam Melting is one possible Additive Manufacturing process which allows the production of metal components with very good mechanical properties suitable for industrial applications. These are for example located in the field of medical technologies or aerospace. Despite this potential a breakthrough of the technology has not occurred yet. One of the main reasons for this issue is the lack of process stability and quality management. Due to the principle of this process, mechanical properties of the components are strongly depending on the process parameters being used for production. As a consequence incorrect parameters or process errors will influence part properties. For that reason possible process errors were identified and documented using high resolution imaging. In a next step tensile test specimens with pre-defined process errors were produced. The influence of these defects on mechanical properties were examined by determining the tensile strength and the elongation at break. The results from mechanical testing are validated with microscopy studies on error samples and tensile specimens. Finally this paper will give a summary of the impact of process errors on mechanical part quality. As an outlook the suitability of high resolution imaging for error detection is discussed. Based on these results a future contribution to quality management is aspired.
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