Additive Manufactured Stainless Steel Research Articles

Powder Bed Based Laser Additive Manufacturing Process of Stainless Steel: A Review

This study presents a review on powder bed laser additive manufacturing of stainless steel. The powder bed laser additive manufacturing processes that are presented in this paper are the selective laser sintering and selective laser melting. The powder bed laser additive manufacturing process of stainless steel are reviewed in this paper. The process parameters was found to plat an important role in the evolving properties of the powder bed based laser additive manufacturing process. The paper ends with the perspective of future research directions.

Comparison of Laser-Engraved Hole Properties between Cold-Rolled and Laser Additive Manufactured Stainless Steel Sheets

Laser drilling and laser engraving are common manufacturing processes that are found in many applications. With the continuous progress of additive manufacturing (3D printing), these processes can now be applied to the materials used in 3D printing. However, there is a lack of knowledge about how these new materials behave when processed or machined. In this study, sheets of 316L stainless steel produced by both the traditional cold rolling method and by powder bed fusion (PBF) were laser drilled by a nanosecond pulsed fiber laser. Results were then analyzed to find out whether there are measurable differences in laser processing parts that are produced by either PBF (3D printing) or traditional steel parts. Hole diameters, the widths of burn effects, material removal rates, and hole tapers were measured and compared. Additionally, differences in microstructures of the samples were also analyzed and compared. Results show negligible differences in terms of material processing efficiency. The only significant differences were that the PBF sample had a wider burn effect, and had some defects in the microstructure that were more closely analyzed. The defects were found to be shallow recesses in the material. Some of the defects were deep within the material, at the end and start points of the laser lines, and some were close to the surfaces of the sample.

Effect of Lattice Design and Process Parameters on Dimensional and Mechanical Properties of Binder Jet Additively Manufactured Stainless Steel 316 for Bone Scaffolds

Scaffolds are 3D biocompatible structures that mimic the extracellular matrix properties (mechanical support, cellular activity and protein production) of bones and provide place for cell attachment and bone tissue formation. Their performance depends on chemistry, pore size, pore volume and mechanical strength. Open and interconnected pores allow nutrients and molecules to transport to inner parts of scaffold. Recently, additive manufacturing (AM) has been used as a means to produce these scaffolds. However, there is a need to study the various lattice designs and process parameters of these AM processes to produce the required scaffolds. In this study, the relationship between different lattice designs of additively manufactured scaffolds and their mechanical properties was studied. Four lattice geometries were fabricated with binder jet AM process with Stainless Steel 316 (SS316) as material. We also studied effect of process parameters such as sintering time and sintering temperature on dimensional accuracy and mechanical properties of these geometries. The results showed that the samples with circular geometry have superior mechanical properties compared to others. Trends were obtained on the influence of different lattice designs on compressive strength of the material.

Weldability of Additive Manufactured Stainless Steel

Part size in additive manufacturing is limited by the size of building area of AM equipment. Occasionally, larger constructions that AM machines are able to produce, are needed, and this creates demand for welding AM parts together. However there is very little information on welding of additive manufactured stainless steels. The aim of this study was to investigate the weldability aspects of AM material. In this study, comparison of the bead on plate welds between AM parts and sheet metal parts is done.Used material was 316L stainless steel, AM and sheet metal, and parts were welded with laser welding. Weld quality was evaluated visually from macroscopic images. Results show that there are certain differences in the welds in AM parts compared to the welds in sheet metal parts. Differences were found in penetration depths and in type of welding defects. Nevertheless, this study presents that laser welding is suitable process for welding AM parts.

Preliminary Investigation of Keyhole Phenomena during Single Layer Fabrication in Laser Additive Manufacturing of Stainless Steel

Laser additive manufacturing (LAM) is a fabrication technology that enables production of complex parts from metallic materials with mechanical properties comparable to conventionally manufactured parts. In the LAM process, parts are manufactured by melting metallic powder layer-by-layer with a laser beam. This manufacturing technology is nowadays called powder bed fusion (PBF) according to the ASTM F2792-12a standard. This strategy involves several different independent and dependent thermal cycles, all of which have an influence on the final properties of the manufactured part.The quality of PBF parts depends strongly on the characteristics of each single laser-melted track and each single layer. This study consequently concentrates on investigating the effects of process parameters such as laser power on single track and layer formation and laser-material interaction phenomena occurring during the PBF process.Experimental tests were done with two different machines: a modified research machine based on an EOS EOSINT M-series system and an EOS EOSINT M280 system. The material used was EOS stainless steel 17-4 PH. Process monitoring was done with an active illuminated high speed camera system.After microscopy analysis, it was concluded that a keyhole can form during laser additive manufacturing of stainless steel. It was noted that heat input has an important effect on the likelihood of keyhole formation. The threshold intensity value for keyhole formation of 106W/cm2 was exceeded in all manufactured single tracks. Laser interaction time was found to have an effect on penetration depth and keyhole formation, since the penetration depth increased with increased laser interaction time. It was also concluded that active illuminated high speed camera systems are suitable for monitoring of the manufacturing process and facilitate process control.

Cost Estimation of Laser Additive Manufacturing of Stainless Steel

Laser additive manufacturing (LAM) is a layer wise fabrication method in which a laser beam melts metallic powder to form solid objects. Although 3D printing has been invented 30 years ago, the industrial use is quite limited whereas the introduction of cheap consumer 3D printers, in recent years, has familiarized the 3D printing. Interest is focused more and more in manufacturing of functional parts. Aim of this study is to define and discuss the current economic opportunities and restrictions of LAM process. Manufacturing costs were studied with different build scenarios each with estimated cost structure by calculated build time and calculating the costs of the machine, material and energy with optimized machine utilization. All manufacturing and time simulations in this study were carried out with a research machine equal to commercial EOS M series equipment. The study shows that the main expense in LAM is the investment cost of the LAM machine, compared to which the relative proportions of the energy and material costs are very low. The manufacturing time per part is the key factor to optimize costs of LAM.

Characterization of Effect of Support Structures in Laser Additive Manufacturing of Stainless Steel

Abstract Laser additive manufacturing (LAM) of stainless steel is a layer wisetechnology for fabricating 3D parts from metal powder via selectively melting powder with laser beam. Support structures play a significant role in LAM process as they help to remove heat away from the process and on the other hand hold the work piece in its place. A successful design of support structures can help to achievea building process fast and inexpensive with high quality. Aimof this study was to characterize the usability of two types of support structures: web and tube supports. Purpose of this studywas also to analyze how suitable they are in two industrial application cases: case for dental application and case for jewelry application. It was concluded that the removability of web supports was much better than tube supports. It was noticed that support structures are an important part of LAM process and they strongly affect the manufacturability and the end quality of the part.

Temperature Profile and Imaging Analysis of Laser Additive Manufacturing of Stainless Steel

Powder bed fusion is a laser additive manufacturing (LAM) technology which is used to manufacture parts layer-wise from powdered metallic materials. The technology has advanced vastly in the recent years and current systems can be used to manufacture functional parts for e.g. aerospace industry. The performance and accuracy of the systems have improved also, but certain difficulties in the powder fusion process are reducing the final quality of the parts. One of these is commonly known as the balling phenomenon. The aim of this study was to define some of the process characteristics in powder bed fusion by performing comparative studies with two different test setups. This was done by comparing measured temperature profiles and on-line photography of the process. The material used during the research was EOS PH1 stainless steel. Both of the test systems were equipped with 200 W single mode fiber lasers. The main result of the research was that some of the process instabilities are resulting from the energy input during the process.

Evaluation of Different Monitoring Methods of Laser Additive Manufacturing of Stainless Steel

Different monitoring methods for the laser additive manufacturing process were studied in this study. Possibilities and downfalls of three different methods were compared to each other to define their applicability in future on-line and adaptive monitoring use in LAM processes. The material used on all the LAM process tests was EOS StainlessSteel PH1 in fine powder form. In this study, e.g. parameters like scanning speed, layer thickness and hatch space were tested. Based on the results of this study, the pyrometer seems to be more easily adaptable to continuous monitoring than the spectrometer or systems based on active illumination imaging system. It seems that the pyrometer is a promising method for quality control. The ability to control quality through on-line measurements can be further utilized in future e.g. for on-line quality control and dynamic process control, i.e. the ability to change and correct parameters on the fly.