scholarly journals Effect of Process Parameters on Residual Stresses, Distortions, and Porosity in Selective Laser Melting of Maraging Steel 300

Metals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 1042 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mugwagwa ◽  
Yadroitsev ◽  
Matope

Selective laser melting (SLM) is one of the most well-known additive manufacturing methods available for the fabrication of functional parts from metal powders. Although SLM is now an established metal additive manufacturing technique, its widespread application in industry is still hindered by inherent phenomena, one of which is high residual stresses. Some of the effects of residual stresses – such as warping and thermal stress-related cracking – cannot be corrected by post processing. Therefore, establishing input process parameter combinations that result in the least residual stress magnitudes and related distortions and/or cracking is critical. This paper presents the influence of laser power, scanning speed, and layer thickness on residual stresses, distortions and achievable density for maraging steel 300 steel parts in order to establish the most optimum input parameter combinations. An analysis of the interdependence between process outcomes shows that high residual stress magnitudes lead to high dimensional distortions in the finished parts, whilst porous parts suffer relatively lower residual stresses and associated distortions.


Author(s):  
Xiaoqing Wang ◽  
Y. Kevin Chou

Accurate evaluation of residual stresses in structures is very important because they play a crucial role in the mechanical performance of the components. As residual stresses can be introduced into mechanical components during various thermal or mechanical processes such as heat treatment, forming, welding and additive manufacturing. As an additive manufacturing method, selective laser melting (SLM) has become a powerful tool for the direct manufacturing of three dimensional nano-composite components with complex configurations directly from powders using 3D CAD data as a digital information source and energy in the form of a high-power laser beam. Therefore, the application of the SLM technology is necessary to manufacture Inconel 718 superalloy, which has been widely employed in industrial applications due to its remarkable properties. Hence, it is critical to measure and reduce the residual stress in the Inconel 718 parts formed by SLM due to rapid cooling and reheating. In this study, the process-induced residual stress in Inconel 718 parts produced by selective laser melting (SLM) has been investigated using the model established by Carlsson et al., which is an instrumented indentation technique based on the experimental correlation between the indentation characteristic and the residual stress. The samples were sectioned from an Inconel 718 block along its build direction, and subsequently prepared with general metallographic methods for Vickers indentation and measurements by optical microscopy. The residual stress on the scanning surface (Z-plane) and side surface (X-plane) at different build heights have been evaluated in micro-scale with the contact area, indentation hardness and the equai-biaxial residual stress and strain fields. The results show that the residual stress is unevenly distributed in the SLMed parts with some areas have an maximum absolute value around 350 MPa, about 30 percent of the yield strength of Inconel 718. The average residual stresses in the Z-plane and X-plane samples are tensile and compressive, respectively. Besides, the residual stress does not change significantly along the building direction of the part. Moreover, the Vickers hardness of the parts built with the SLM process is comparable to the literature, and the X-plane surface has a higher hardness than the Z-plane surface. The microstructures and texture evolution of the SLM processed Inconel 718 alloy are also investigated. The X-plane shows the columnar structure due to the large temperature gradient while the Z-plane presents the equiaxed structures. The random texture is shown in the SLM processed specimens.



2016 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 1291-1296 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Król ◽  
T. Tański

Abstract One of the innovative technology of producing the components is Selective Laser Melting (SLM) belongs to additive manufacturing techniques. SLM technology has already been successfully applied in the automotive, aerospace and medical industries. Despite progress in material flexibility and mechanical performances, relatively poor surface finish still presents a significant weakness in the SLM process. The scope of the present article is the study the influence of selective laser melting parameters such as laser power, scanning speed, exposure time and hatch spacing through additive manufacturing as well as the orientation of the model corresponding to the laser beam on the surface characteristic of the components made from Ti-6Al-4V alloy. By using optimized process parameters, a low surface roughness can be obtained. In research, the machine for the selective laser melting of metal powders Renishaw AM 125 device was used. Based on experiment plan, 32 models were produced, which were examined to define the surface roughness and thus represent an influence of process parameters and the orientation on the model surface quality. The article discusses the fundamental factors determining the roughness that gives invaluable knowledge to improve the surface quality of SLM parts.



Author(s):  
Shoichi Tamura ◽  
Takashi Matsumura ◽  
Atsushi Ezura ◽  
Kazuo Mori

Abstract Additive manufacturing process of maraging steel has been studied for high value parts in aerospace and automotive industries. The hybrid additive / subtractive manufacturing is effective to achieve tight tolerances and surface finishes. The additive process induces anisotropic mechanical properties of maraging steel, which depends on the laser scanning direction. Because anisotropy in the workpiece material has an influence on the cutting process, the surface finish and the dimension accuracy change according to the direction of the cutter feed with respect to the laser scanning direction. Therefore, the cutting parameters should be determined to control the cutting force considering material anisotropy. The paper discusses the cutting force in milling of maraging steel stacked with selective laser melting, as an additive manufacturing process. Anisotropic effect on the cutting forces is proved with the changing rate of the cutting force in milling of the workpieces stacked by repeating laser scanning at 0/90 degrees and 45/-45 degrees. The cutting forces, then, are analyzed in the chip flow models with piling up of orthogonal cuttings. The force model associates anisotropy with the shear stress on the shear plane. The changes in the cutting forces with the feed direction are discussed in the cutting tests and analysis.



2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 453-464
Author(s):  
Lan Li ◽  
Tan Pan ◽  
Xinchang Zhang ◽  
Yitao Chen ◽  
Wenyuan Cui ◽  
...  

Purpose During the powder bed fusion process, thermal distortion is one big problem owing to the thermal stress caused by the high cooling rate and temperature gradient. For the purpose of avoiding distortion caused by internal residual stresses, support structures are used in most selective laser melting (SLM) process especially for cantilever beams because they can assist the heat dissipation. Support structures can also help to hold the work piece in its place and reduce volume of the printing materials. The mitigation of high thermal gradients during the manufacturing process helps to reduce thermal distortion and thus alleviate cracking, curling, delamination and shrinkage. Therefore, this paper aims to study the displacement and residual stress evolution of SLMed parts. Design/methodology/approach The objective of this study was to examine and compare the distortion and residual stress properties of two cantilever structures, using both numerical and experimental methods. The part-scale finite element analysis modeling technique was applied to numerically analyze the overhang distortions, using the layer-by-layer model for predicting a part scale model. The validation experiments of these two samples were built in a SLM platform. Then average displacement of the four tip corners and residual stress on top surface of cantilever beams were tested to validate the model. Findings The validation experiments results of average displacement of the four tip corners and residual stress on top surface of cantilever beams were tested to validate the model. It was found that they matched well with each other. From displacement and residual stress standpoint, by introducing two different support structure, two samples with the same cantilever beam can be successfully printed. In terms of reducing wasted support materials, print time and high surface quality, sample with less support will need less post-processing and waste energy. Originality/value Numerical modeling in this work can be a very useful tool to parametrically study the feasibility of support structures of SLM parts in terms of residual stresses and deformations. It has the capability for fast prediction in the SLMed parts.



Materials ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 930 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Malý ◽  
Christian Höller ◽  
Mateusz Skalon ◽  
Benjamin Meier ◽  
Daniel Koutný ◽  
...  

The aim of this study is to observe the effect of process parameters on residual stresses and relative density of Ti6Al4V samples produced by Selective Laser Melting. The investigated parameters were hatch laser power, hatch laser velocity, border laser velocity, high-temperature preheating and time delay. Residual stresses were evaluated by the bridge curvature method and relative density by the optical method. The effect of the observed process parameters was estimated by the design of experiment and surface response methods. It was found that for an effective residual stress reduction, the high preheating temperature was the most significant parameter. High preheating temperature also increased the relative density but caused changes in the chemical composition of Ti6Al4V unmelted powder. Chemical analysis proved that after one build job with high preheating temperature, oxygen and hydrogen content exceeded the ASTM B348 limits for Grade 5 titanium.



Author(s):  
Shoichi Tamura ◽  
Takashi Matsumura ◽  
Atsushi Ezura ◽  
Kazuo Mori

Abstract Additive manufacturing process of maraging steel has been studied for high value parts in aerospace and automotive industries. The hybrid additive / subtractive manufacturing is effective to achieve tight tolerances and surface finishes. The additive process induces anisotropic mechanical properties of maraging steel, which depends on the laser scanning direction. Because anisotropy in the workpiece material has an influence on the cutting process, the surface finish and the dimension accuracy change according to the direction of the cutter feed with respect to the laser scanning direction. Therefore, the cutting parameters should be determined to control the cutting force considering material anisotropy. The paper discusses the cutting force in milling of maraging steel stacked with selective laser melting, as an additive manufacturing process. Anisotropic effect on the cutting forces is proved with the changing rate of the cutting force in milling of the workpieces stacked by repeating laser scanning at 0/90 degrees and 45/−45 degrees. The cutting forces, then, are analyzed in the chip flow models with piling up of orthogonal cuttings. The force model associates anisotropy with the shear stress on the shear plane. The changes in the cutting forces with the feed direction are discussed in the cutting tests and analysis.



Author(s):  
Evren Yasa ◽  
Jan Deckers ◽  
Jean-Pierre Kruth ◽  
Marleen Rombouts ◽  
Jan Luyten

Selective laser melting (SLM), a powder metallurgical (PM) additive manufacturing (AM) technology, is able to produce fully functional parts directly from standard metal powders without using any intermediate binders or any additional post-processing steps. During the process, a laser beam selectively scans a powder bed according to the CAD data of the part to be produced and completely melts the powder particles together. Stacking and bonding two-dimensional powder layers in this way, allows production of fully dense parts with any geometrical complexity. The scanning of the powder bed by the laser beam can be achieved in several different ways, one of which is island or sectoral scanning. In this way, the area to be scanned is divided in small square areas (‘sectors’) which are scanned in a random order. This study is carried out to explore the influence of sectoral scanning on density, surface quality, mechanical properties and residual stresses formed during SLM. The experiments are carried out on a machine with an Nd:YAG laser source using AISI 316L stainless steel powder. As a result of this experimental study, it is concluded that sectoral scanning has some advantages such as lower residual stresses and better surface quality. However, the selection of parameters related to sectoral scanning is a critical task since it may cause aligned porosity at the edges between sectors or scanned tracks, which is very undesired in terms of mechanical properties.



2020 ◽  
Vol 129 ◽  
pp. 106283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ze-Chen Fang ◽  
Zhi-Lin Wu ◽  
Chen-Guang Huang ◽  
Chen-Wu Wu


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (9) ◽  
pp. 1465-1476
Author(s):  
Qiqiang Cao ◽  
Jiong Zhang ◽  
Shuai Chang ◽  
Jerry Ying Hsi Fuh ◽  
Hao Wang

Purpose This study aims to further the understanding of support structures and the likely impacts on maraging steel MS1 parts fabricated by selective laser melting (SLM) at 45°, 60° and 75° building angles. Design/methodology/approach Two groups of samples, one group with support structures and the other group without support structures, were designed with the same specifications and printed under the same conditions by SLM at 45°, 60° and 75° building angles. Differences in dimensional accuracy, surface roughness, Vickers microhardness, residual stress and microstructure were compared between groups. Findings The results showed that with support structures, more accurate dimension and slightly higher Vickers microhardness could be obtained. Larger compressive stress dominated and was more uniformly distributed on the supporting surface. Without support structures, the dimension became more precise as the building angle increased and alternating compressive and tensile stress was unevenly distributed on the supporting surface. In addition, the surface roughness of the outer surface decreased with the increase of the built angle, regardless of the support structures. Furthermore, whether the building angle was 45°, 60° or 75°, the observed microstructures revealed that the support structures altered the orientation of the molten pool and the direction of grain growth. Originality/value This paper studies the influence of support structures on the workpieces printed at different building angles. Support structures affect the residual stress distribution, heat dissipation rate and microstructure of the parts, and thus affecting the printing quality. Therefore, it is necessary to balance the support strategy and printing quality to better apply or design the support structures in SLM.



Author(s):  
Luis E. Criales ◽  
Yiğit M. Arısoy ◽  
Tuğrul Özel

A prediction of the 2-D temperature profile and melt pool geometry for Selective Laser Melting (SLM) of Inconel 625 metal powder with a numerically-based approach for solving the heat conduction-diffusion equation was established in this paper. A finite element method solution of the governing equation was developed. A review of the current efforts in numerical modeling for laser-based additive manufacturing is presented. Initially, two-dimensional (2-D) temperature profiles along the scanning (x-direction) and hatch direction (y-direction) are calculated for a moving laser heat source to understand the temperature rise due to heating during SLM. The effects of varying laser power, scanning speed and the powder material’s density are analyzed. Based on the predicted temperature distributions, melt pool geometry, i.e. the locations at which melting of the powder material occurs, is determined. The results are chiefly compared against the published literature on melt pool data. The main goal of this research is to develop a computational tool with which investigation of the importance of various laser, material, and process parameters on the built dimensional quality in laser-based additive manufacturing becomes not only possible but also practical and reproducible.



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