Tailoring Surface Roughness of Micro Selective Laser Melted SS316L by In-Situ Laser Remelting

摘要

Micro selective laser melting (SLM) has been developed for the fabrication of complex parts with a fine resolution and smooth finish. Although the fine laser spot size, fine powder size and thin layer thickness can result in a relatively smooth surface compared with the conventional SLM, the surface quality still needs to be improved. In this work, in-situ laser remelting was chosen for the improvement of the surface quality. The effects of in-situ laser remelting process parameters on the surface roughness were investigated using various remelting process parameters. The surface roughness of the top and side surfaces of the samples was characterized using an optical surface profiler. Surface morphology of the parts was characterized using scanning electron microscope. It was observed that the surface texture was evidently different after in-situ laser remelting. Overall, the obtained results indicate that tailoring the top surface roughness of the parts fabricated by micro SLM can be achieved through in-situ laser melting.