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On Optimization of Surface Roughness of Selective Laser Melted Stainless Steel Parts: A Statistical Study

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Abstract

In this work, the effects of re-melting parameters for postprocessing the surface texture of Additively Manufactured parts using a statistical approach are investigated. This paper focuses on improving the final surface texture of stainless steel (316L) parts, built using a Renishaw SLM 125 machine. This machine employs a fiber laser to fuse fine powder on a layer-by-layer basis to generate three-dimensional parts. The samples were produced using varying angles of inclination in order to generate range of surface roughness between 8 and 20 µm. Laser re-melting (LR) as post-processing was performed in order to investigate surface roughness through optimization of parameters. The re-melting process was carried out using a custom-made hybrid laser re-cladding machine, which uses a 200 W fiber laser. Optimized processing parameters were based on statistical analysis within a Design of Experiment framework, from which a model was then constructed. The results indicate that the best obtainable final surface roughness is about 1.4 µm ± 10%. This figure was obtained when laser power of about 180 W was used, to give energy density between 2200 and 2700 J/cm2 for the re-melting process. Overall, the obtained results indicate LR as a post-build process has the capacity to improve surface finishing of SLM components up to 80%, compared with the initial manufactured surface.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Engineering, De Montfort University, 49 Oxford Street, Leicester, LE1 5XY, UK

    K. Alrbaey, W. Manning & A. Moroz

  2. MTC, Coventry, UK

    D. Wimpenny & R. Tosi

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  1. K. Alrbaey
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  2. D. Wimpenny
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  3. R. Tosi
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  4. W. Manning
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  5. A. Moroz
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Correspondence to K. Alrbaey.

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Alrbaey, K., Wimpenny, D., Tosi, R. et al. On Optimization of Surface Roughness of Selective Laser Melted Stainless Steel Parts: A Statistical Study. J. of Materi Eng and Perform 23, 2139–2148 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-014-0993-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-014-0993-9

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