Modelling and optimization of laser polishing of additive laser manufacturing surfaces

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 956-964 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benoit Rosa ◽  
Pascal Mognol ◽  
Jean-Yves Hascoët

Purpose Direct metal deposition (DMD) with laser is an additive manufacturing process enabling rapid manufacturing of complex metallic and thin parts. However, the final quality of DMD-manufactured surfaces is a real issue that would require a polishing operation. Polishing processes are usually based on abrasive or chemical techniques. These conventional processes are composed by many drawbacks such as accessibility of complex shapes, environmental impacts, high time consumption and cost, health risks for operators, etc. […] This paper aims to solve these problems and improve surface quality by investigating the laser polishing (LP) process. Design/methodology/approach Based on melting material by laser, the LP process enables the smoothing of initial topography. However, the DMD process and the LP processes are based on laser technology. In this context, the laser DMD process is used directly on the same machine for the polishing operation. Currently, few studies focus on LP of additive laser manufacturing surfaces, and it tends to limit the industrial use of additive manufacturing technology. The proposed study describes an experimental analysis of LP surfaces obtained by DMD process. Findings The investigation results in the improvement of a complete final surface quality, according to LP parameters. For mastering LP processes, operating parameters are modelled. Originality/value This experimental study introduces the LP of thin and complex DMD parts, to develop LP applications. The final objective is to create a LP methodology for optimizing the final topography and productivity time according to parts’ characteristics.

Author(s):  
Wojciech S. Gora ◽  
Yingtao Tian ◽  
Marcus Ardron ◽  
Philip Prangnell ◽  
Nicholas J. Weston ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shimin Dai ◽  
Hailong Liao ◽  
Haihong Zhu ◽  
Xiaoyan Zeng

Purpose For the laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) technology, the side surface quality is essentially important for industrial applicated parts, such as the inner flow parts. Contour is generally adopted at the parts’ outline to enhance the side surface quality. However, the side surface roughness (Ra) is still larger than 10 microns even with contour in previous studies. The purpose of this paper is to study the influence of contour process parameters, laser power and scanning velocity on the side surface quality of the AlSi10Mg sample. Design/methodology/approach Using L-PBF technology to manufacture AlSi10Mg samples under different contour process parameters, use a laser confocal microscope to capture the surface information of the samples, and obtain the surface roughness Ra and the maximum surface height Rz of each sample after analysis and processing. Findings The results show that the side surface roughness decreases with the increase of the laser power at the fixed scanning velocity of 1,000 mm/s, the side surface roughness Ra stays within the error range as the contour velocity increases. It is found that the Ra increases with the scanning velocity increasing and the greater the laser power with the greater Ra increases when the laser power of contour process parameters is 300 W, 350 W and 400 W. The Rz maintain growth with the contour scanning velocity increasing at constant laser power. The continuous uniform contour covers the pores in the molten pool of the sample edge and thus increase the density of the sample. Two mechanisms named “Active adhesion” and “Passive adhesion” cause sticky powder. Originality/value Formation of a uniform and even contour track is key to obtain the good side surface quality. The side surface quality is determined by the uniformity and stability of the contour track when the layer thickness is fixed. These research results can provide helpful guidance to improve the surface quality of L-PBF manufactured parts.


2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (10) ◽  
pp. 1637-1646 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bohao Xu ◽  
Xiaodong Tan ◽  
Xizhi Gu ◽  
Donghong Ding ◽  
Yuelin Deng ◽  
...  

Purpose Once an uneven substrate is aligned, traditional control theories and methods can be used on it, so aligning is of great significance for the development of wire and arc additive manufacturing (WAAM). This paper aims to propose a shape-driven control method for aligning a substrate with slopes to expand the application of WAAM. Design/methodology/approach A substrate with slopes must be aligned by depositing weld beads with slopes. First, considering the large height differences of slopes, multi-layer deposition is needed, and the number of layer of weld beads must be ascertained. Second, the change in the deposition rate is controlled as a ramp function to generate weld beads with slopes. Third, the variation of the deposition rate must be fine-tuned to compensate for the deviation between the actual and theoretical layer heights at the deposition of each layer. Finally, the parameters of the ramp functions at the deposition of each layer are determined through an optimization method. Findings First, to model the response function of layer height to deposition rate, the experiments are conducted with the deposition rate jumping from 4 to 8 mm/s and from 8 to 4 mm/s. When the deposition rate jumps from 4 to 8 mm/s and from 8 to 4 mm/s, the difference in the height of each layer decreases as the number of layer increases. Second, the variation of the deposition rate can be fine-tuned based on the deviation between the measured and theoretical layer heights because the variation of the deposition rate is proportional to the layer height when the initial and end deposition rates are near 4 or 8 mm/s, respectively. Third, the experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method is effective for single-layer aligning and aligning a substrate with one or more slopes. Originality/value The proposed method can expand the application of WAAM to an uneven substrate with slopes and lays the foundation for aligning tasks focused on uneven substrates with more complex shapes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (11) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Giovanni Gómez-Gras ◽  
Marco A. Pérez ◽  
Jorge Fábregas-Moreno ◽  
Guillermo Reyes-Pozo

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the quality of printed surfaces and manufacturing tolerances by comparing the cylindrical cavities machined in parts obtained by fused deposition modeling (FDM) with the holes manufactured during the printing process itself. The comparison focuses on the results of roughness and tolerances, intending to obtain practical references when making assemblies. Design/methodology/approach The experimental approach focuses on the comparison of the results of roughness and tolerances of two manufacturing strategies: geometric volumes with a through-hole and the through-hole machined in volumes that were initially printed without the hole. Throughout the study, both alternates are explained to make appropriate recommendations. Findings The study shows the best combinations of technological parameters, both machining and three-dimensional printing, which have been decisive for obtaining successful results. These conclusive results allow enunciating recommendations for use in the industrial environment. Originality/value This paper fulfills an identified need to study the dimensional accuracy of the geometries obtained by additive manufacturing, as no experimental evidence has been found of studies that directly address the problem of the FDM-printed part with geometric and dimensional tolerances and desirable surface quality for assembly.


2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 636-642
Author(s):  
Qin Qin ◽  
Jigang Huang ◽  
Jin Yao ◽  
Wenxiang Gao

Purpose Scanning projection-based stereolithography (SPSL) is a powerful technology for additive manufacturing with high resolution as well as large building area. However, the surface quality of stitching boundary in an SPSL system has been rarely studied, and no positive settlement was proposed to address the poor stitching quality. This paper aims to propose an approach of multi-pass scanning and a compensation algorithm for multi-pass scanning process to address the issue of poor stitching quality in SPSL systems. Design/methodology/approach The process of multi-pass scanning is realized by scanning regions repeatedly, and the regions can be cured simultaneously because of the very short repeat exposure time and very fast scanning. Then, the poor stitching quality caused by the non-simultaneous curing can be eliminated. Also, a compensation algorithm is designed for multi-pass scanning to reduce the stitching errors. The validity of multi-pass scanning is verified by curing depth test, while the performance of multi-pass scanning as well as proposed compensation algorithm is demonstrated by comparing with that of a previous SPSL system. Findings The results lead to a conclusion that multi-pass scanning with its compensation algorithm is an effective approach to improve the stitching quality of an SPSL system. Practical implications This study can provide advice for researchers to achieve the satisfactory surface finish with SPSL technology. Originality/value The authors proposed a process of multi-pass scanning as well as a compensation algorithm for SPSL additive manufacturing (system to improve the stitching quality, which has rarely been studied in previous work.


Author(s):  
Renkai Huang ◽  
Ning Dai ◽  
Dawei Li ◽  
Xiaosheng Cheng ◽  
Hao Liu ◽  
...  

Surface finish, especially the surface finish of functional features, and build time are two important concerns in additive manufacturing. A suitable part deposition orientation can enhance the surface quality of functional features and reduce the build time. This article proposes a novel method to obtain an optimum part deposition orientation for industrial-grade 3D printing based on fused deposition modeling process by considering two objective functions at a time, namely adaptive feature roughness (the weighted sum of all feature roughnesses) and build time. First, mesh segmentation and level classification of features are carried out. Then, models for evaluation of adaptive feature roughness and build time are established. Finally, a non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II based on Compute Unified Device Architecture is used to obtain the Pareto-optimal set. The feasible of the algorithm is evaluated on several examples. Results demonstrate that the proposed parallel algorithm obtains a limiting solution that enhances the surface quality of functional features significantly and reduces average running time by 94.8% compared with the traditional genetic algorithm.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiangman Zhou ◽  
Lian Liu ◽  
Boyun Wang ◽  
Xingwang Bai ◽  
Haiou Zhang ◽  
...  

Abstract The surface quality is one of important quality factors for arc welding based additive manufacturing (AWAM) parts. In this study, AWAM process assisted by an external longitudinal static magnetic field (ELSMF) is applied to improve surface quality of AWAM parts. In order to study the internal mechanism of AWAM process assisted by an external longitudinal magnetic field, a three-dimensional weak coupling model of the arc and metal transport is developed to simulate the arc, molten pool dynamic in AWAM assisted by ELSMF. The simulated results of single-bead deposition show that the ELSMF induces the asymmetrical tangential electromagnetic stirring in arc and molten pool, which can increase molten pool dynamics, drive the molten metal moving to the edge of the molten pool and reduce the temperature gradient. The simulated results of overlapping deposition show that the asymmetrical tangential electromagnetic stirring force can drive the molten metal moving to valley area between overlapping beads, which is beneficial to filling the valley area and improving the surface quality of the AWAM parts. The single-bead deposition experiment shows that the applying of ELSMF can reduce the height as well as increase the width of single weld bead. The multi-bead overlapping and the multi-layer multi-pass deposition experiments demonstrate that the external magnetic field can improve the surface quality of multi-layer part. The conclusions of the above study can provide the reference for AWAM process assisted by magnetic field.


Author(s):  
Jon Iñaki Arrizubieta ◽  
Magdalena Cortina ◽  
Jose Exequiel Ruiz ◽  
Aitzol Lamikiz

The present work proposes a novel manufacturing technique based on the combination of Laser Metal Deposition, Laser Beam Machining and Laser Polishing processes for the complete manufacturing of complex parts. Therefore, the complete process is based on the application of a laser heat source both for the building of the preform shape of the part by additive manufacturing and for the finishing operations. Their combination enables to manufacture near-net-shape parts and afterwards, remove the excess material via laser machining, which has resulted to be capable of eliminating the waviness resulting from the additive process. Besides, surface quality is improved via laser polishing to reduce the roughness of the final part. Therefore, conventional machining operations are eliminated, what results in a much cleaner process. In order to validate the capability of this new approach, the dimensional accuracy and surface quality of the resulting parts are evaluated. The process has been validated on an Inconel 718 test part, where a previously additively built up part has been finished by means of laser machining and laser polishing.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abid Ullah ◽  
HengAn Wu ◽  
Asif Ur Rehman ◽  
YinBo Zhu ◽  
Tingting Liu ◽  
...  

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to eliminate Part defects and enrich additive manufacturing of ceramics. Laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) experiments were carried to investigate the effects of laser parameters and selective oxidation of Titanium (mixed with TiO2) on the microstructure, surface quality and melting state of Titania. The causes of several L-PBF parts defects were thoroughly analyzed. Design/methodology/approach Laser power and scanning speed were varied within a specific range (50–125 W and 170–200 mm/s, respectively). Furthermore, varying loads of Ti (1%, 3%, 5% and 15%) were mixed with TiO2, which was selectively oxidized with laser beam in the presence of oxygen environment. Findings Part defects such as cracks, pores and uneven grains growth were widely reduced in TiO2 L-PBF specimens. Increasing the laser power and decreasing the scanning speed shown significant improvements in the surface morphology of TiO2 ceramics. The amount of Ti material was fully melted and simultaneously changed into TiO2 by the application of the laser beam. The selective oxidation of Ti material also improved the melting condition, microstructure and surface quality of the specimens. Originality/value TiO2 ceramic specimens were produced through L-PBF process. Increasing the laser power and decreasing the scanning speed is an effective way to sufficiently melt the powders and reduce parts defects. Selective oxidation of Ti by a high power laser beam approach was used to improve the manufacturability of TiO2 specimens.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (10) ◽  
pp. 1751-1759
Author(s):  
Li Zhang ◽  
Linshan Ding ◽  
Saif Ullah ◽  
Tao Hu ◽  
Yangyang Xu ◽  
...  

Purpose The principle of the medial axis calculation is complicated and difficult to implement. Moreover, the accuracy is not high. Then, as the generated path has an endpoint at the boundary of the polygon, burrs may appear on the surface of the molded piece. This paper aims to improve the warpage deformation of SLM molded parts and the surface quality of molded parts, an improved mid-axis path generation algorithm is proposed. Design/methodology/approach First, the center point is calculated by the seed point growth method based on the distance transform, and the obtained medial axis has high precision and is suitable for simple polygons and complex polygons. Then, based on the extracted medial axis, a preliminary path is generated, the path is trimmed with MATLAB to remove the redundant path. Finally, a scan along the contour of the polygon is performed to improve the surface quality of the molded part. Findings The algorithm reduces the internal stress generated during the molding process by continuously changing the scanning direction of the path along the boundary curve of the scanning area, thereby reducing the amount of warpage of the molded part. The result of extraction has a higher precision and wider scope of application than other methods to extract central axis, such as the Voronoi diagram-based method. The path is trimmed to remove redundant paths and the polygon boundaries are scanned to further improve the surface quality of the molded part. The results show that warpage deformation of the proposed algorithm is significantly smaller than the other two methods, thus the forming precision is higher. Originality/value An improved medial axis path generation algorithm is proposed in this paper. The proposed method is applied to improve warpage deformation occurring in the SLM process. Seed point growth of distance transformation is used to extracted central axis. The result of extraction has a higher precision and wider scope of application than other methods to extract central axis, such as the Voronoi diagram-based method.


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