Femtosecond laser polishing of additively manufactured parts at grazing incidence

Abstract

Surface polishing is usually a requisite for making additively manufactured (AM) parts ready for practical applications. Due to its advantages of being flexible and noncontact, laser polishing has attracted increasing research interest. In this research, femtosecond (fs) laser polishing was established to post-process both the top surfaces and sidewalls of AM parts. The challenge to remove three levels of roughness (i.e., the initial surface roughness of the AM parts, the undulations newly introduced during fs laser polishing, and the micro-nanoscale surface features induced by fs laser irradiation) was identified and addressed. Mirror surfaces with Sa < 200 nm were achieved on stainless steel parts printed with an initial roughness >20 µm. Both parallel- and perpendicular-incidence were investigated for the polishing, with the former verified to be more effective in eliminating the initial roughness of the AM parts, due to the elongated focal intensity profile of a Gaussian beam irradiated on the AM part surfaces. The challenge of forming three-zone surfaces during the parallel-incidence was further addressed through a grazing-incidence polishing approach, and uniform smooth surfaces were realized. Fine-tuning the laser power enabled controlling the submicron surface features formed under fs laser irradiation, which determined the final achievable surface roughness.