Effects of Post-processing on the Surface Finish, Porosity, Residual Stresses, and Fatigue Performance of Additive Manufactured Metals: A Review

• Published in: Journal of materials engineering and performance Vol. 30; no. 9; pp. 6407 - 6425
• Main Authors: Ye, Chang, Zhang, Chaoyi, Zhao, Jingyi, Dong, Yalin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 2021
• Subjects: Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Corrosion and Coatings; Engineering Design; Materials Science; Quality Control; Reliability; Safety and Risk; Tribology; post-processing; ultrasonic nanocrystal surface modification; additive manufacturing; fatigue performance; laser shock peening
• ISSN: 1059-9495; 1544-1024
• DOI: 10.1007/s11665-021-06021-7

Additive manufacturing (AM) has attracted much attention due to its capability in building parts with complex geometries. Unfortunately, AM metals suffer from three major drawbacks, including high porosity, poor surface finish, and tensile residual stresses, all of which will significantly compromise the fatigue performance. These drawbacks present a major obstacle to the application of AM metals in industries that produce fatigue-sensitive components. Many post-processing methods, including heat treatment, hot isotropic pressing, laser shock peening, ultrasonic nanocrystal surface modification, advanced finishing and machining, and laser polishing, have been used to treat AM metals to decrease their porosity, improve the surface finish, and eliminate tensile residual stresses. As a result, significant improvement in fatigue performance has been observed. In this paper, the state of the art in utilizing post-processing techniques to treat AM metals and the effects of these treatments on the porosity, surface finish, and residual stresses of metal components and their resultant fatigue performance are reviewed.