Introducing Hatch Spacing into Deposited Energy Density toward Efficient Optimization of Laser Powder Bed Fusion Process Parameters

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The optimization of processing parameters is indispensable for the laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) process. The deposited energy density (DED) is one of the process indexes for the L-PBF process and has a simplified formula of P·v−0.5, where P is the laser power, and v is the scan speed. This parameter describes the change in the relative density and the melt pool morphology with laser power and scan speed well, whereas it does not include the effect of other processing parameters, e.g., hatch spacing (S). In the present study, an attempt was made to incorporate the effect of S into DED. Al–12Si (mass%) alloy cube samples were fabricated by L-PBF under various P, v, and S, for evaluating the relative density and the melt pool morphology. The melt pool depth and width of L-PBF-manufactured Al–12Si alloy increased linearly with P·v−0.5 and did not exhibit a clear correlation with S. Based on the experimental observation, the effect of hatch spacing on DED was estimated to be S−0.5, and a new index of P·v−0.5·S−0.5 was proposed. This index described the change in the relative density of the L-PBF-manufactured Al–12Si alloy with laser conditions (P, v, and S) well when the thermal conduction mode melting was dominant. This study also indicated the limitation of the applicability of P·v−0.5·S−0.5 under the keyhole or transition mode melting.