Scanning Strategy Investigation for Direct Powder Bed Selective Laser Processing of Silicon Carbide Ceramic

Mohamed Abdelmoula,David Grossin,Marc Ferrato,Gökhan Küçüktürk,Francis Maury,Alejandro Montón Zarazaga

doi:10.3390/app12020788

Abstract

Direct-Powder Bed Selective Laser Processing (D-PBSLP) is considered a promising technique for the Additive Manufacturing (AM) of Silicon Carbide (SiC). For the successful D-PBSLP of SiC, it is necessary to understand the effects of process parameters. The process parameters are the laser power, scanning speed, hatching distance, and scanning strategies. This study investigates the effect of scanning strategies on the D-PBSLP of SiC and ensures that other process parameters are appropriately selected to achieve this. A numerical model was developed to obtain the proper process parameters for the investigation of scanning strategies in this work. Different scanning strategies available in the commercial Phoenix 3D printer manufactured by 3D Systems, such as concentric in–out, linear, inclined zigzag, and hexagonal, have been investigated. It was concluded that the zigzag strategy is the best scanning strategy, as it was seen that SiC samples could be printed at a high relative density of above 80% without a characteristic pattern on the layer’s top surface. SiC samples were successfully printed using different laser powers and scanning speeds obtained from the numerical model and zigzag strategy. Additionally, complex geometry in the form of triple periodic minimum surface (gyroid) was also successfully printed.

Highlights

Silicon carbide (SiC) is considered one of the most important ceramic materials due to its superior properties, advantages, and wide application in many fields [1,2]
To confirm and validate that the results obtained by the numerical model, the model was compared with the available data acquired by Zhang et al [35]
In order to re-confirm the model validation, the temperature contour obtained from the numerical model (Figure 8b) with the same conditions reported in [32,36] and the temperature contour captured using a thermal camera [32,36] confirm a good agreement with a calculation error of 1.24 % (Figure 8a)

Summary

Introduction

Silicon carbide (SiC) is considered one of the most important ceramic materials due to its superior properties, advantages, and wide application in many fields [1,2]. The manufacturing of SiC can be performed using traditional techniques used with most ceramic materials, such as casting, extrusion, pressing, and injection molding [5,6,7,8]. The use of these techniques must be followed with post-processing operations to reach the final product, and the complexity is limited

Methods

Results

Conclusion