PRELIMINARY STUDY TOWARD SURFACE TEXTURE AS A PROCESS SIGNATURE IN LASER POWDER BED FUSION ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING

Published

June 29, 2016

Author(s)

Jason Fox, Shawn P. Moylan, Brandon Lane

Abstract

Additive manufacturing (AM) allows for highly complex designs that cannot be achieved through subtractive or formative manufacturing techniques. A limiting factor of AM, however, is the as-built surface quality. Additionally, there is limited knowledge on how specific surface features or defects translate to measured surface parameters. If a strong quantitative understanding of the relationships between the processes that cause specific surface features and the measured surface parameters can be developed, then surface texture has the opportunity to be developed as a process signature. Vertical and upward-facing surfaces of varying angles and process parameters were built and analyzed. Analysis of Ra was found to provide little information on the specific features that make up the surface texture. RSm and Rc, however, can indicate a shift between surfaces dominated by partially melted powder particles and ones dominated by material from the re-solidified melt track, which was also seen for downward-facing surfaces in prior work. The correlations presented are a step toward developing surface texture as a process signature for AM.

Proceedings Title

Proceedings of the 2016 ASPE Summer Topical Meeting: Dimensional Accuracy and Surface Finish in
Additive Manufacturing

Conference Dates

June 27-30, 2016

Conference Location

Raleigh, NC, US

Conference Title

2016 Summer Topical Meeting: Dimensional Accuracy and Surface Finish in Additive Manufacturing

Pub Type

Conferences

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Keywords

Selective Laser Melting (SLM), Surface Roughness, Process Signature, additive manufacturing

Citation

Fox, J. , Moylan, S. and Lane, B. (2016), PRELIMINARY STUDY TOWARD SURFACE TEXTURE AS A PROCESS SIGNATURE IN LASER POWDER BED FUSION ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING, Proceedings of the 2016 ASPE Summer Topical Meeting: Dimensional Accuracy and Surface Finish in Additive Manufacturing, Raleigh, NC, US, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=921082 (Accessed April 26, 2026)

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