In this paper, the influences of build orientation and post-fabrication processes, including stress-relief, machining, and shot-peening, on the fatigue behavior of stainless steel (SS) 316L manufactured using selective laser melting (SLM) are studied. It was found that horizontally-built (XY) and machined (M) test pieces, which had not been previously studied in the literature, in both stress-relieved (SR) or non-stress-relieved (NSR) conditions show superior fatigue behavior compared to vertically-built (ZX) and conventionally-manufactured SS 316L. The XY, M, and SR (XY-M-SR) test pieces displayed fatigue behavior similar to the XY-M-NSR test pieces, implying that SR does not have a considerable effect on the fatigue behavior of XY and M test pieces. ZX-M-SR test pieces, due to their considerably lower ductility, exhibited significantly larger scatter and a lower fatigue strength compared to ZX-M-NSR samples. Shot-peening (SP) displayed a positive effect on improving the fatigue behavior of the ZX-NSR test pieces due to a compressive stress of 58 MPa induced on the surface of the test pieces. Fractography of the tensile and fatigue test pieces revealed a deeper understanding of the relationships between the process parameters, microstructure, and mechanical properties for SS 316L produced by laser systems. For example, fish-eye fracture pattern or spherical stair features were not previously observed or explained for cyclically-loaded SLM-printed parts in the literature. This study provides comprehensive insight into the anisotropy of the static and fatigue properties of SLM-printed parts, as well as the pre- and post-fabrication parameters that can be employed to improve the fatigue behavior of steel alloys manufactured using laser systems.

Polyamide 11 (PA11) is a plant-based nylon made from castor beans. Powder bed fusion laser sintering (PBF-LS) is an additive manufacturing process used for PA11 which allows for the reuse of the unsintered powder. The unsintered powder is mixed with virgin powders at different refresh rates, a process which has been studied extensively for most semi-crystalline polyamides. However, there is lack of information on the effect of using 100% reused PA11 powder and the effect of the number of times it is reused on its own, during powder bed fusion laser sintering. This paper investigates the effect of reusing PA11 powder in PBF-LS and the effect of the number of times it is reused on the dimensional accuracy, density and thermal and tensile properties. From the 100% virgin powder to the third reuse of the powder, there is a decrease in powder wastage, crystallinity and tensile strength. These are associated with the polymerisation and cross-linking process of polymer chains, upon exposure to high temperatures. This results in a higher molecular weight and, hence, a higher density. From the fourth reuse to the tenth reuse, the opposite is observed, which is associated with an increase in high-viscosity unmolten particles, resulting in defects in the PBF-LS parts.

Products produced by additive manufacturing (AM) seek to exploit net shape manufacturing by eliminating or minimizing post-process stages such as machining. However, many applications which include turbo machinery components with tight dimensional tolerances and a smooth surface finish will require at least a light machine finishing stage. This paper investigates the machinability of the additively fabricated INCONEL718 (IN718) alloy produced by laser melting powder bed fusion (LM-PBF) with different levels of spherical porosity in the microstructure. The literature suggests that the band width for laser energy density, which combines the various scan process parameters to obtain a low spherical type porosity in the LM-PBF IN718 alloy (~1%), has wide breadth. With the increasing laser energy density and above a threshold, there is a rapid increase in the spherical pore size. In this paper, three tube samples each with different levels of spherical porosity were fabricated by varying the laser energy density for LM-PBF of the IN718 alloy within the stable and higher energy density range and the porosity measured. A low laser energy density was avoided due to balling up, which promotes highly irregular lack of fusion defects and poor consolidation within the alloy microstructure. An orthogonal turning test instrumented, with a three-component dynamometer to measure the cutting forces, was performed on AM produced IN718 tube samples under light cut conditions to simulate a finish machining process. The orthogonal turning tests were also performed on a tube sample obtained from the wrought extruded stock. The machining process parameters, which were studied include varying the cutting speed at three levels, at a fixed feed and under dry cut conditions for a short duration to avoid the tool wear. The results obtained were discussed and a notable finding was the higher rate of built-up-edge formation on the tool tip from the AM samples with a higher porosity and especially at a higher cutting speed. The paper also discusses the mechanisms that underpin the findings.

Polyamide 11 (PA11) is a plant-based nylon made from castor beans. Powder bed fusion laser sintering (PBF-LS) is an additive manufacturing process used for PA11 which allows the reuse of the unsintered powder. The unsintered powder is mixed with virgin powders at different refresh rates which has been studied extensively for most semi-crystalline polyamides. However, there is lack of information on the effect of using 100% reused PA11 powder and the number of times it is reused on its own during powder bed fusion laser sintering. This paper investigates the effect of reusing PA11 powder in PBF-LS and number of times it is reused on the dimensional accuracy, density, thermal and tensile properties. From 100% virgin powder to 3rd use of the powder, there is a decrease in powder wastage, decrease in crystallinity and tensile strength. These was associated with the polymerisation and cross-linking process of polymer chains, upon exposure to high temperature. This results in a higher molecular weight and hence density. From the 4th use to 10th reuse, the opposite was observed which was associated to an increase in high-viscosity and un-molten particles which resulted in defects in the PBF-LS parts.