On Mesoscopic Surface Formation in Metal Laser Powder-Bed Fusion Process

• Published in: TMS 2021 150th Annual Meeting & Exhibition Supplemental Proceedings p. 1
• Main Authors: Zhang, Shanshan, Shrestha, Subin, Chou, Kevin
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Springer Nature 2021; Springer International Publishing AG; Springer International Publishing
• Series: The Minerals, Metals & Materials Series
• Subjects: General Engineering & Project Administration; General References; Laser Powder-Bed Fusion; Mesoscopic surface formation; Metals & Metallurgy; Mineral Processing & Extractive Metallurgy; Mining Engineering & Extractive Metallurgy; Surface roughness; Thermos-fluid modeling
• ISBN: 3030652602; 9783030652609
• ISSN: 2367-1181; 2367-1696
• DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-65261-6_14

During Laser Powder-Bed Fusion (LPBF)Laser Powder-Bed Fusion (LPBF), the surface formation of the selected-melted powder-bed region is subject to a melting-solidification process along the line-scans and sensitive to the process conditions. This study focuses on the surface formation of mesoscopic line-scans in LPBF and aims to investigate the effect of different process parameters, such as laser power and layer thickness, on the track morphology and surface roughnessSurface roughness. For this purpose, single-track scans were produced by an LPBFLaser Powder-Bed Fusion (LPBF) system and then were characterized under a white-light interferometer. A discrete element method and 3D thermo-fluid modeling were applied to simulate powder spreading and laser scanning. The results show that the line-scan surface morphology and the surface roughnessSurface roughness of the quasi-steady regions on the line scans are signifiscantly dependent on the process conditions both longitudinally and transversely. As a result of continuous melting in the line scans, increasing laser power and decreasing layer thickness lead to smoother surface finish, respectively.