Unsettled Topics on Surface Finishing of Metallic Powder Bed Fusion Parts in the Mobility Industry

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Slattery ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Surface Roughness ◽  
Electron Beam ◽  
High Surface ◽  
Metallic Powder ◽  
Surface Finishing ◽  
Powder Bed Fusion ◽  
Powder Bed ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Fatigue Corrosion

Laser and electron-beam powder bed fusion (PBF) additive manufacturing (AM) technology has transitioned from prototypes and tooling to production components in demanding fields such as medicine and aerospace. Some of these components have geometries that can only be made using AM. Initial applications either take advantage of the relatively high surface roughness of metal PBF parts, or they are in fatigue, corrosion, or flow environments where surface roughness does not impose performance penalties. To move to the next levels of performance, the surfaces of laser and electron-beam PBF components will need to be smoother than the current as-printed surfaces. This will also have to be achieve on increasingly more complex geometries without significantly increasing the cost of the final component. Unsettled Topics on Surface Finishing of Metallic Powder Bed Fusion Parts in the Mobility Industry addresses the challenges and opportunities of this technology, and what remains to be agreed upon by the industry.

scholarly journals On the Effectiveness of Different Surface Finishing Techniques on A357.0 Parts Produced by Laser-Based Powder Bed Fusion: Surface Roughness and Fatigue Strength

Metals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 1284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucia Denti ◽  
Antonella Sola
Keyword(s):  
Surface Roughness ◽  
Fatigue Strength ◽  
Surface Finish ◽  
Shot Peening ◽  
Fatigue Behavior ◽  
Surface Finishing ◽  
Powder Bed Fusion ◽  
Present Contribution ◽  
Laser Shock Processing ◽  
Powder Bed

Laser-based powder bed fusion (L-PBF) is an additive manufacturing (AM) technique that uses a computer-controlled laser beam as the energy source to consolidate a metal powder according to a layer-upon-layer strategy in order to manufacture a three dimensional part. This opens the way for an unprecedented freedom in geometry, but the layer-wise build-up strategy typically results in a very poor surface finish, which is affected by the staircase effect and by the presence of partially molten particles. Surface finishing treatments are therefore necessary to obtain an adequate surface finish, to improve the fatigue behavior and to meet mechanical and aesthetic needs. The present contribution systematically compares numerous surface finishing techniques, including laser shock processing, plastic media blasting, sand blasting, ceramic shot peening and metal shot peening with steel particles of different sizes (ϕ = 0.2 mm and ϕ = 0.4 mm). The results show that all the proposed methods improve the surface quality and the fatigue life of A357.0 L-PBF parts. However, the achievement of the lowest surface roughness does not necessarily correspond to the best fatigue performance, thus suggesting that multiple mechanisms may be active and that besides surface roughness also residual stresses contribute to increase the fatigue strength.

Effect of Surface Roughness Induced by Laser Powder Bed Fusion Additive Manufacturing in a Mini-Channel Heat Exchanger

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Parent-Simard ◽  
A. Landry-Blais ◽  
P. K. Dubois ◽  
M. Picard ◽  
V. Brailovski
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Surface Roughness ◽  
Heat Exchanger ◽  
Gas Turbines ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
High Surface ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Powder Bed Fusion ◽  
Laser Powder Bed Fusion ◽  
Powder Bed

Abstract The Inside-Out Ceramic Turbine (ICT) is a promising microturbine for aeronautics applications. To increase the cycle efficiency and reduce fuel consumption, microturbines must operate under the recuperated Brayton cycle. The addition of a heat exchanger (HEx) increases the weight of the engine and cancels out any fuel savings as compared to a non-recuperated turbine. For this reason, the requirements applied to HEx for aeronautic gas turbines are: low weight and volume, high effectiveness with a low pressure drop, capabilities to endure high pressure and temperature, and low cost. The Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) opens a new design space for geometries that cannot be realized by conventional methods, but induces high surface roughness. This paper presents experimental and analytical studies of the influence of surface roughness on the performances of a 3D-printed, counterflow, mini-channel HEx, with 1% of the total mass flow rate of the ICT. Results showed that the friction and heat transfer are both increased in the the regime typically defined as laminar compared to the analytical results. The experimental results are in agreement with a 1D heat transfer model when using correlations for high-roughness values from the literature. LPBF is a promising method to manufacture gas turbine parts, but it is crucial to model and incorporate its manufacturing capacities in terms of precision and surface finish to enhance HEx heat transfer and potentially reduce mass.

scholarly journals Surface Roughness Characterisation and Analysis of the Electron Beam Melting (EBM) Process

Materials ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (13) ◽  
pp. 2211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuela Galati ◽  
Paolo Minetola ◽  
Giovanni Rizza
Keyword(s):  
Surface Roughness ◽  
Electron Beam ◽  
Cross Section ◽  
Mass Production ◽  
Electron Beam Melting ◽  
Heat Distribution ◽  
Powder Bed Fusion ◽  
Powder Bed ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Process Factors

Electron Beam Melting (EBM) is a metal powder bed fusion (PBF) process in which the heat source is an electron beam. Differently from other metal PBF processes, today, EBM is used for mass production. As-built EBM parts are clearly recognisable by their surface roughness, which is, in some cases, one of the major limitations of the EBM process. The aim of this work is to investigate the effects of the orientation and the slope of the EBM surfaces on the surface roughness. Additionally, the machine repeatability is studied by measuring the roughness of surfaces built at different positions on the start plate. To these aims, a specific artefact was designed. Replicas of the artefact were produced using an Arcam A2X machine and Ti6Al4V powder. Descriptive and inferential statistical methods were applied to investigate whether the surface morphology was affected by process factors. The results show significant differences between the upward and downward surfaces. The upward surfaces appear less rough than the downward ones, for which a lower standard deviation was obtained in the results. The roughness of the upward surfaces is linearly influenced by the sloping angle, while the heat distribution on the cross-section was found to be a key factor in explaining the roughness of the downward surfaces.

Grain Morphology and Texture Development in a Co-Cr-Mo Alloy Fabricated by Powder Bed Fusion with an Electron Beam

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yufan Zhao ◽  
Yuichiro Koizumi ◽  
Kenta Aoyagi ◽  
Daixiu Wei ◽  
Kenta Yamanaka ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electron Beam ◽  
Grain Morphology ◽  
Texture Development ◽  
Powder Bed Fusion ◽  
Powder Bed

scholarly journals On the Relevance of Volumetric Energy Density in the Investigation of Inconel 718 Laser Powder Bed Fusion

Materials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 538 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabrizia Caiazzo ◽  
Vittorio Alfieri ◽  
Giuseppe Casalino
Keyword(s):  
Surface Roughness ◽  
Energy Density ◽  
Process Parameters ◽  
Vickers Hardness ◽  
Powder Bed Fusion ◽  
Processing Conditions ◽  
Laser Powder Bed Fusion ◽  
Powder Bed ◽  
Fractional Density ◽  
Experimental Variation

Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) can fabricate products with tailored mechanical and surface properties. In fact, surface texture, roughness, pore size, the resulting fractional density, and microhardness highly depend on the processing conditions, which are very difficult to deal with. Therefore, this paper aims at investigating the relevance of the volumetric energy density (VED) that is a concise index of some governing factors with a potential operational use. This paper proves the fact that the observed experimental variation in the surface roughness, number and size of pores, the fractional density, and Vickers hardness can be explained in terms of VED that can help the investigator in dealing with several process parameters at once.

scholarly journals Comparison of Phase Characteristics and Residual Stresses in Ti-6Al-4V Alloy Manufactured by Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF) and Electron Beam Powder Bed Fusion (EB-PBF) Techniques

Crystals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 796
Author(s):  
Aya Takase ◽  
Takuya Ishimoto ◽  
Naotaka Morita ◽  
Naoko Ikeo ◽  
Takayoshi Nakano
Keyword(s):  
Electron Beam ◽  
Residual Stresses ◽  
Cooling Rate ◽  
Process Parameters ◽  
Phase Evolution ◽  
Powder Bed Fusion ◽  
Laser Powder Bed Fusion ◽  
Solidification Temperature ◽  
Powder Bed ◽  
Β Phase

Ti-6Al-4V alloy fabricated by laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) and electron beam powder bed fusion (EB-PBF) techniques have been studied for applications ranging from medicine to aviation. The fabrication technique is often selected based on the part size and fabrication speed, while less attention is paid to the differences in the physicochemical properties. Especially, the relationship between the evolution of α, α’, and β phases in as-grown parts and the fabrication techniques is unclear. This work systematically and quantitatively investigates how L-PBF and EB-PBF and their process parameters affect the phase evolution of Ti-6Al-4V and residual stresses in the final parts. This is the first report demonstrating the correlations among measured parameters, indicating the lattice strain reduces, and c/a increases, shifting from an α’ to α+β or α structure as the crystallite size of the α or α’ phase increases. The experimental results combined with heat-transfer simulation indicate the cooling rate near the β transus temperature dictates the resulting phase characteristics, whereas the residual stress depends on the cooling rate immediately below the solidification temperature. This study provides new insights into the previously unknown differences in the α, α’, and β phase evolution between L-PBF and EB-PBF and their process parameters.

scholarly journals Microstructure–property gradients in Ni-based superalloy (Inconel 738) additively manufactured via electron beam powder bed fusion

2021 ◽  
pp. 102121
Author(s):  
Bryan Lim ◽  
Hansheng Chen ◽  
Zibin Chen ◽  
Nima Haghdadi ◽  
Xiaozhou Liao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electron Beam ◽  
Powder Bed Fusion ◽  
Powder Bed
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