Investigation of the effect of different process parameters for laser additive manufacturing of metals

Abstract

Many research projects are being conducted regarding additive manufacturing technologies, which help widen their application field for the manufacturing of functional metallic parts. Additive manufacturing technologies differ in many ways, such as the form of the material used, the material addition technique employed, the type of the energy input and the process configuration. Among these, laser additive manufacturing is preferred by industry due to their flexibility for new material types, the ability to produce small geometrical features and better surface quality compared to the other methods. However, due to the rapid melting and solidification processes inherent in this method, the internal stresses increase, deformations occur, and therefore, high quality products cannot be obtained depending on the geometry and the material selection. It is only possible to overcome these challenges by optimizing the process in terms of different parameters. However, it is not feasible in terms of time and cost to understand the effects of dozens of different parameters on the relevant process by a single investigator or an institution. For this reason, in this paper different studies in the literature have been systematically reviewed, the parameters used in the process have been explained, the challenges encountered in different cases have been pointed out, and the improvements made in the process parameters have been revealed.