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Analysis and optimisation of vertical surface roughness in micro selective laser melting

2015; IOP Publishing; Volume: 3; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1088/2051-672x/3/3/034007

2051-672X

Eberhard Abele, Michael Kniepkamp,

Welding Techniques and Residual Stresses

Surface roughness is a major disadvantage of many additive manufacturing technologies like selective laser melting (SLM) compared to established processes like milling or drilling. With recent advancements the resolution of the SLM process could be increased to layer heights of less than 10 μm leading to a new process called micro selective laser melting (μSLM). The purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of the μSLM process parameters and exposure strategies on the morphology of vertical surfaces. Contour scanning using varying process parameters was used to increase the surface quality. It is shown that it is possible to achieve average surface roughness of less than 1.7 μm using low scan speeds compared to 8–10 μm without contour scanning. Furthermore it is shown that a contour exposure prior to the core exposure leads to surface defects and thus increased roughness.