Parameter optimization of aluminum alloy thin structures obtained by Selective Laser Melting
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MRS Advances © 2019 Materials Research Society DOI: 10.1557/adv.2019.434
Parameter optimization of aluminum alloy thin structures obtained by Selective Laser Melting Malena Ley Bun Leal1,2, Barbara Bermudez-Reyes1,2, Patricia del Carmen Zambrano Robledo1,2, Omar Lopez-Botello1,3 1
Laboratorio Nacional de Manufactura Aditiva y Digital (MADiT), Mexico. Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Facultad de Ingeniería Mecánica y Eléctrica, Centro de Investigación e Innovación en Ingeniería Aeronáutica, Mexico. 3 Tecnologico de Monterrey, Escuela de Ingenieria y Ciencias, Mexico. 2
ABSTRACT Selective Laser Melting (SLM) involves numerous fabrication parameters, the interaction between those parameters determine the final characteristics of the resulting part and because of the latter, it is considered a complex process. Low-density components is one of the main issues of the SLM process, due to the incorrect selection of process parameters. These defects are undesired in high specialized applications (i.e. aerospace, aeronautic and medical industries). Therefore, the characterization of the defects (pores) found in aluminum parts manufacture by SLM and the relationship with fabrication parameters was performed. A robust orthogonal design of experiments was implemented to determine process parameters, and then parts were manufactured in SLM. Relative density of the samples was then characterized using the Archimedes principle and microscopy; the data was then statistically analyzed in order to determine the optimal process parameters. The main purpose of the present research was to establish the best processing parameters of an in-house SLM system, as well as to characterize the pore geometry in order to fully eliminate pores in a future research.
INTRODUCTION Selective Laser Melting or SLM for short, is a powder bed based Additive Manufacturing (AM) technology. This technology has been gaining a lot of traction in aerospace and medical industries, because by using SLM parts with complex geometries parting only of a CAD file can be manufactured. This kind of geometries make possible to design lighter parts with the strength needed for its specific application [1].
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The main problem for SLM is that the finished parts tend to present defects as pores or cracks [2]. Most of these defects can be reduced or eliminated with different combination of processes parameter [3]. The SLM process involve a great number of parameters but most of the papers and investigations point to 5 main parameters that affect directly to the pores and cracks formation. Those are, laser power, scanning velocity of the laser, hatch spacing of the laser tracks, the thickness of the powder layer and the focus shift of the Laser [3-6]. One of the most common methods of optimizations is the use of Design of Experiments
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