The Effect of Laser Power and Scan Speed on Melt Pool Characteristics of Pure Titanium and Ti-6Al-4V Alloy for Selective Laser Melting (original) (raw)

The Effect of Laser Power and Scan Speed on Melt Pool Characteristics of Pure Titanium and Ti-6Al-4V alloy for Selective Laser Melting Selective Laser Melting (SLM) is an additive manufacturing (AM) technique that creates complex parts by selectively melting metal powder layer-by-layer. In SLM, the process parameters decide the quality of the fabricated component. In this study, single beads of commercially pure titanium (CP-Ti) and Ti-6Al-4V alloy are melted on a substrate of the same material as powder using an in-house built SLM machine. Multiple combinations of laser power and scan speed are used for single bead fabrication while the laser beam diameter and powder layer thickness are kept constant. This experimental study investigates the influence of laser power, scan speed and laser energy density on the melt pool formation, surface morphology, geometry (width, depth, and height) and hardness of melt pools. The results show that the quality, geometry, and hardness of melt pool is significantly affected by laser power, scanning speed and laser energy density. In addition, the observed unfavorable effects such as inconsistent melt pool formation, balling, porosity are discussed in detail. At the end, suggestions are provided to use optimal parameters to avoid such unfavorable effects.

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