International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture 145 (2019) 103433

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International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture

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Effect of overlap rate and pattern on residual stress in selective laser melting T
1 1 *
Changpeng Chen , Jie Yin , Haihong Zhu , Zhongxu Xiao, Luo Zhang, Xiaoyan Zeng
Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, 430074, PR China

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Selective laser melting (SLM) can be directly used to fabricate high-performance three-dimensional (3D) parts
Selective laser melting with complex structures. However, the high residual stress caused by the extremely uneven temperature dis-
Finite element method tribution is detrimental to formability during the process. A 3D finite element model based on the sequentially
Residual stress coupled thermal-structural method was developed to predict the effect of an overlap region on the residual stress
Island scanning strategy
induced by the island scanning strategy. The existence of the overlap region had the most influence on the X-
Overlap rate
Overlap pattern
component of stress in comparison with the Y and Z components of stress when using the unidirectional pattern.
The X-component of stress and equivalent stress decreased first and then increased with the increase of the
overlap rate, which primarily relied on the combined action of the laser re-scanning, pre-heating effect from the
previous island and scanning length. In terms of the maximum X-component of stress and equivalent stress, an
overlap rate of 25%–50% was recommended for the generally utilized island size. The laser vertical re-scanning
the overlap region with a short scanning length was beneficial in reducing the residual stress. The simulated
results were in good agreement with the experimental data, including the molten pool dimension, residual stress
distribution and the effect of overlap rate on the residual stress. The findings of this study will improve the
understanding of stress distribution during the SLM process and provide effective methods to reduce residual
stress.

1. Introduction
Selective laser melting (SLM), well known as a type of additive
manufacturing (AM), is a promising technology for the rapid manu-
facturing of three-dimensional (3D) parts with complex structures
[1–4]. In the SLM process, the components are fabricated through layer-
by-layer selective fusion of metallic powder using a high-energy laser
beam [5–8]. The process provides considerable flexibility in the design
of parts and decreased consumption of materials in comparison with
those by conventional process methods [2,9–12]. However, the local
heat input caused by the high-energy laser beam leads to a high tem-
perature gradient during the SLM process, which causes high residual
stresses and undesired thermal deformations, and even leads to failure
to manufacture some parts [13–15].
When examining the origin of residual stress in SLM, Mercelis and
Kruth [14] highlighted the formation mechanisms of the residual stress,
namely, temperature gradient mechanism (TGM) and cool-down phase.
Moreover, they pointed out that the most important factors determining
the residual stress were the laser scanning strategies, material proper-
ties, part and substrate dimensions, and pre-heating conditions. In an-
other study, Kruth et al. [16] demonstrated experimentally that both
reducing the temperature gradient and optimizing the scanning direc-
tion could reduce the residual stress. These results were very significant
and revealed the direction for the study of residual stress in SLM.
The scanning strategy has an important influence on residual stress
in the SLM process, which has attracted extensive attention in recent
years. Hussein et al. [17] found via thermo-mechanical simulation that
high tensile stress was generated along the laser scanning direction with
a unidirectional pattern. Cheng et al. [18] developed a 3D finite model
to study the effect of scanning strategy on residual stress and de-
formation. They found that the out-in scanning pattern produced
maximum stress while the 45° line scanning pattern significantly re-
duced the residual stress. Liu et al. [19] found, based on the X-ray
diffraction method, that a higher energy input and longer track length
induced higher residual stress in the horizontal direction. Li et al. [20]
also found numerically that the maximum tensile stress increased with
scanning length due to the increased temperature gradient, and the
most appropriate scanning length is between 4 and 6 mm. Parry et al.
[21] indicated via thermo-mechanical simulation that the alternating
scanning pattern could reduce the level of stress at the end of scanning
tracks, and the residual stress increased with the scan area size. Na-
dammal et al. [22] experimentally observed large gradients in the bulk

*
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: zhuhh@mail.hust.edu.cn (H. Zhu).
1
These authors contributed equally to this work.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmachtools.2019.103433
Received 7 December 2018; Received in revised form 16 July 2019; Accepted 16 July 2019
Available online 17 July 2019
0890-6955/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
C. Chen, et al.
Fig. 1. Block diagram summarizing the principles of the model flow based on the indirect coupled thermal-structural analysis method.
residual stress of long hatch length samples, especially along the
scanning direction. Ukwattage and Achuthan [23] also investigated the
effect of zigzag, spiral-in, and spiral-out scanning patterns on the stress-
strain distribution. Kemerling et al. [24] found that the residual stress
presented in components produced with the “perimeter first” scanning
pattern was higher than those produced with the “edge to edge” scan-
ning pattern due to the difference in restraint. The correct selection of
scanning strategy is therefore conducive to obtaining low residual stress
in SLM.
In particular, the island scanning strategy was proved to be a useful
method to reduce residual stress due to the decreased scanning length
[16,25,26]. Meanwhile, it was found that the residual stress decreased
with the decrease in island size [20,22,25], and the generally utilized
island sizes were between 1 × 1 mm2 and 10 × 10 mm2
[13,14,18,25,27–31]. Mercelis et al. [14] and Li et al. [29] also studied
the effect of island scanning order on residual stress and demonstrated
that there was no significant difference between stresses generated by
the “successive” and “least” heat influence (LHI) patterns. Furthermore,
Mugwagwa et al. [28] found that the successive chessboard scanning
strategy had lower average residual stress compared with those by the
successive or LHI patterns. In fact, there was an overlap region between
the islands, which ensured the close metallurgical bonding of the ma-
terials between the islands. The existence of the overlap region can be
seen to have a significant influence on parts fabricated by SLM. Pre-
vious research showed that it had an important effect on selective laser
melted characteristics such as surface quality and forming defects [27].
Unfortunately, the effect of the overlap region on the residual stress in
the SLM process has not been studied yet. It was therefore felt necessary
to give a new insight and understanding of the relationship between
overlap region and residual stress.
In this study, a 3D finite element model based on the sequentially
coupled thermal-structural method was developed to predict the tem-
perature and thermal stress distribution of laser scanned single layer
built on a Ti–6Al–4V powder bed in the SLM process. The latent heat of
fusion of Ti–6Al–4V was considered, and temperature-dependent ma-
terial physical properties were taken into account. The element birth
and death technique was used to improve the prediction accuracy of the
model. The simulation results agreed well with experimental data in-
cluding the dimensions of the molten pool and residual stress. The
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International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture 145 (2019) 103433
effect of overlap rate and pattern on the residual stress induced by the
island scanning strategy was studied in detail.
2. The 3D finite element model for the SLM process
2.1. Thermal-structural analysis method and assumptions
An indirect coupled thermal-structural analysis method is provided
by ANSYS to investigate both the temperature distribution and the re-
sidual stress field in the selective laser melted Ti–6Al–4V alloy. Firstly,
the unsteady temperature distribution caused by the repeated rapid
heating and rapid cooling with the movement of the high power laser
beam is calculated by thermal analysis. Secondly, a transient stress
analysis is developed with a series of adjustments such as an exchange
of the element type from thermal to structural. Finally, the stress field is
calculated by applying the temperature load obtained from the previous
transient thermal analysis until the component is completed.
Two technologies have been applied in order to improve the pre-
diction accuracy of the model. Firstly, an attribute for change of ele-
ment material is used in the thermal analysis, which achieves the
transformation of the material state from powder to solid when the
average temperature of the powder element exceeds the melting tem-
perature of the material. Secondly, the element birth and death tech-
nique is used in structural analysis. The unprocessed loose powder is
always inactivated due to the fact that it has no influence on the
thermal stress during the structural analysis [32]. The elements in the
molten pool are inactivated initially and then become activated, to si-
mulate the stress-releasing effect when the solid material is melted.
The principles of the model flow can be depicted as seen in Fig. 1.
The main steps of the thermal-structural analysis method are shown
roughly, and details are provided in section 2.2 to 2.4 and 3. The model
flow presented in this paper is helpful to quickly develop the thermal-
structural analysis model in SLM.
In addition, several assumptions are applied in this model to sim-
plify the simulation [20,33]:
● The whole powder bed is considered to be a homogeneous and
continuous media.
● Changes in the phase state of materials are reflected through the
C. Chen, et al. International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture 145 (2019) 103433

Fig. 2. 3D finite element model and scanning region sketch, and powder and substrate meshing method.

variation in thermal conductivity and volume enthalpy. while the mesh method and size are still consistent with the above.
● The heat transfer at the bottom of the model can be assumed to be
negligible due to the fact that the size of the substrate is much larger 2.3. Thermal modelling
than that of the manufacturing zone.
2.3.1. Governing equations of heat transfer
The governing equation of thermal analysis for three-dimensional
2.2. The dimensions of the 3D model and meshing
heat transfer can be expressed as follows [38,40]:
The 3D finite element (FE) model with a single layer built on the ∂T ∂ ⎛ ∂T ⎞ ∂ ⎛ ∂T ⎞ ∂ ⎛ ∂T ⎞
ρc = kx + ky + ⎜ kz ⎟ +q
powder bed is displayed in Fig. 2. In order to improve computational ∂t ∂x ⎝ ∂x ⎠ ∂y ⎝ ∂y ⎠ ∂x ⎝ ∂z ⎠ (1)
efficiency, the laser scanning region and nearby powder are fine me-
shed with hexahedral elements (50 × 50 × 20 μm3) while the sur- where ρ is material density (kg/m ); c is specific heat capacity (J/kg
3
o
rounding loose powder and substrate are coarsely meshed. This method C); T is temperature (oC); t is interaction time between powder and
of meshing was adopted by many other studies [17,20,34]. In this si- heat source (s); kx, ky, and kz are the thermal conductivities (W/m oC) in
mulation, the FE mesh is the same in the thermal and structural ana- x, y and z directions, respectively; and q is heat generation per unit
lysis. When studying the effect of overlap region on the residual stress, volume (W/m3 s).
the metal substrate of Ti–6Al–4V alloy with dimensions of The initial temperature of the finite element model is set to ambient
10 × 5 × 5 mm3 and the scanning region on the Ti–6Al–4V powder bed temperature which is 25 °C. In order to obtain more accurate simulation
with dimensions of 4 × 2 mm2 are utilized, as shown in Table 1. Sub_L, results, the combined radiative and convective heat transfer coefficient
Sub_W, and Sub_D are the length, width and depth of the substrate, is used to calculate heat transfer between the powder bed and the en-
respectively. SR_L and SR_W are the length and width of the scanning vironment. It can be described as [33]:
region, respectively. 2
h = hconv + εσ (T 2 + Tamb )(T + Tamb) (2)
It is worth noting that the scanning region dimensions are small.
The reason for this is that the mesh size and time step in the simulation where h is the combined radiative and convective heat transfer coeffi-
must be relatively small because the spot diameter and cooling rate of cient (W/m2 oC); hconv is the convection heat transfer coefficient (W/m2
SLM are on-the-order of 100 μm and 106 °C/s [35], e.g., very small and
o
C); ε is the emissivity of the powder bed; σ is the Stefan Boltzmann
high, respectively. This is a widely recognized problem for the model constant (5.67 × 10−8 W/m2 oC−4).
[17,18,20,21,36,37]. However, previous research has shown that the
molten pool dimensions become almost constant after about 2 mm 2.3.2. Gaussian heat source modelling
scanning length and the third track in SLM [38,39]. The developed The Gaussian heat source is adopted in this model. This is the most
model can therefore reflect the stable situation of the SLM process. widely used heat model to represent the energy distribution of a laser
However, to further verify the applicability of this model, the effects of beam [17,34,38,41]. A Gaussian heat source can be defined as:
the scanning length and width on residual stress are investigated when 2AP x 2 + y2 ⎞ z
using the island strategy. The scanning lengths range from 4 mm to q (x , y, z , t ) = exp ⎛−2
⎜ ⎟ exp ⎛⎜− ⎞⎟
πr 2η ⎝ r2 ⎠ ⎝ η⎠ (3)
20 mm and the scanning widths range from 0.5 mm to 4 mm. As shown
in Table 1, the dimensions of the model also change correspondingly where A is the laser energy absorptivity of the material, as obtained
from the literature [20,42]. P is the laser power (W); r is the laser beam
Table 1 radius (μm) corresponding to the point where the irradiance diminishes
The dimensions of the substrate and the scanning region when studying dif- to 1/e2; and η is the laser penetration depth (μm) of Ti–6Al–4V powder
ferent influence factors. which is regarded as one thickness of powder layer [33,43].
Influence factors Sub_L Sub_W Sub_D SR_L SR_W
(mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) 2.3.3. Ti–6Al–4V material properties in thermal modelling
In the SLM process, the Ti–6Al–4V alloy experiences the process of
Overlap region 10 5 5 4 2
rapid heating and rapid cooling with multiple material status including
Scanning length 10/16/26 3.6 5 4/10/20 0.5
Scanning width 10 3.6/5/7 5 4 0.5/2/4 powder, liquid and solid. The thermophysical properties of the material
have an important influence on the simulation results. The temperature

3
C. Chen, et al. International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture 145 (2019) 103433

dependent thermal conductivity of Ti–6Al–4V solid material is obtained vector, and the thermal strain vector, respectively.
from Ref. [44], and the efficient conductivity of the powder bed is For isotropic material, the above stress-strain relationships can be
calculated by the most commonly used equation proposed by Yagi and written in Cartesian coordinates as:
Kunii [45]:
1
Dp hrv εx = [σ
E x
− μ (σy + σz )] + εxp + ε t
ke β (1 − ϕ)
= + ϕβ 1
− μ (σz + σx )] + ε yp + ε t
kf γ ( )+
kf
ks 1
+
1
Dp hrs
kf εy =
εz =
1
[σ
E y

[σ − μ (σx + σy )] + εzp + ε t
ξ kf (4) E z
τxy τyz τzx
where ke is the efficient conductivity of the powder bed; kf is the γxy = 2G
+ γxyp; γyz = 2G
+ γyzp ; γzx = 2G
+ γzxp (9)
thermal conductivity of the fluid surrounding the powder particles (the
thermal conductivity of Argon is used in this model, which is consistent where E, G, μ are the elastic modulus, shear modulus and Poisson's
with actual conditions); ϕ is the fractional porosity; ks is the thermal ratio, respectively. The thermal strain, ε t , is calculated by Eq. (10):
conductivity of solid; Dp is the average diameter of the powder parti-
cles; β is the ratio of effective length between the centres to Dp; γ is the ε t = α e ΔT = α e (T − Tref ) (10)
ratio of effective length of solid about thermal conduction to Dp; ξ is the
ratio of effective thickness of fluid film adjacent to contact surface of where Tref is the reference temperature; α e is a function of temperature
two solid particles to Dp; and hrs and hrv are the heat transfer coefficient and can be written as:
for radiation from solid to solid and void to void, respectively.
T
The latent heat of fusion is defined in this model to simulate the εt = ∫Tref
α e (T ) dT
(11)
change of phase in the SLM process. It is a function of enthalpy (H), the
density (ρ) and the specific heat (c), which can be expressed as follows:
The Von Mises yield criterion is used in this model. The equivalent
H= ∫ ρc(T ) dT (5) stress (σe), which is also known as Von Mises stress, is widely utilized in
the application of the mechanics of plastic deformation of metals [47].
The enthalpy of the powder (Hp) is related to the enthalpy of solid The equivalent stress is also available in the SLM process to evaluate the
material (Hs) as in Ref. [17]: residual stress [17,36], and is calculated as:
Hp = (1 − ϕ) Hs (6)
1 2 2 2
σe = [(σx − σy )2 + (σy − σz )2 + (σz − σx )2 + 6(τxy + τ yz + τzx )]
As a result, the thermal physical properties of Ti–6Al–4V are de- 2
picted in Fig. 3. (12)

2.4. Structural analysis where σx , σy and σz are the X, Y and Z-components of stress in Cartesian
coordinates, respectively. τxy , τyz , and τzx are the XY shear stress, YZ
2.4.1. The basic equations of the structural analysis shear stress, and ZX shear stress, respectively.
During the SLM process, a large temperature gradient is generated
due to high input energy focusing on a small region, which results in
high residual stresses and strain. The relationship between stress and 2.4.2. Ti–6Al–4V material properties in the structural analysis
strain is defined as in Ref. [46]: This section describes the material properties which are required to
define the structural analysis. In order to ensure the prediction accuracy
{σ } = [D]{ε e} (7)
of the residual stress analysis, the authoritative structural properties of
where {σ } is the stress vector; [D] is the elasticity matrix; {ε e} is the the material are obtained. The Young's modulus, yield strength, and
elastic strain vector. The simplified ideal elastic-plastic hardening thermal expansion coefficient are cited in Ref. [48], and the Poisson's
model is used in this model, therefore, {ε e} can be expressed as Eq. (8) ratio is cited in Ref. [49]. The plastic tangent modulus [32] in the
[20,32]: plastic stage is measured using a tensile test [50]. The resulting tem-
perature-dependent material properties in the structural analysis are
{ε e} = {ε } − {ε p} − {ε t } (8)
shown in Table 2.
where {ε } , {ε p} and {ε t } are the total strain vector, the plastic strain

Fig. 3. The thermal physical properties of Ti–6Al–4V at powder and solid statuses: (a) thermal conductivity; (b) enthalpy.

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C. Chen, et al. International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture 145 (2019) 103433

Table 2
The temperature-dependent structural properties for bulk Ti–6Al–4V.
Temperature (oC) 23 260 316 427 482 538 650 800 825 850 1650

Elastic modulus, E (GPa) 125 110 100 100 80 74 55 27 20 5 0.1

Thermal expansion coefficient, 8.78 9.83 10.14 10.71 10.97 11.22 11.68 12.21 12.29 12.37 12.5
α × 10−6 (1/oC)
Yield strength, σ0.2 (MPa) 1000 630 630 525 500 446 300 45 25 5 0.1
Temperature (oC) 28 107 206 306 402 529 608 706 795 960 1002 1034 1046
Poisson's ratio, μ 0.34 0.35 0.35 0.36 0.36 0.37 0.38 0.38 0.39 0.42 0.45 0.44 0.43
Temperature (oC) 25 300 500 600 650 700 750 800 850 900 950 975 1050
Plastic modulus, Ep (GPa) 2.87 2.88 1.62 0.41 0.40 0.15 0.01 0.03 0.05 0.05 0.03 0.02 0.02

Table 3
Process parameters used in the simulation.
Parameters Values

Laser power, P (W) 300

Scanning velocity, v (mm/s) 1000
Hatching spacing, h (μm) 100
Powder layer thickness, Lt (μm) 40
Beam diameter, D (μm) 150

Fig. 4. Schematic diagram of island strategy and overlap region, and the defi-
nition of overlap rate.
The total number of scanning tracks of island 2 was also 21, except for
the vertical pattern which was 41 due to the change of scanning width.
3. Methodology A 1 ms cooling period before scanning the next track was used due to
the laser beam jump delay. The temperature of the part gradually
3.1. Island strategy design cooled down to the ambient temperature (25 °C) after the two islands
were scanned. The appropriate process parameters used in the study are
In the study, two islands, island 1 and island 2, were considered. listed in Table 3 because they were proven effective in fabricating full-
The overlap region was at the interface between island 1 and island 2, dense Ti–6Al–4V parts [51].
as shown in Fig. 4. In order to study the effect of overlap region on the
residual stress, two important factors, overlap rate and overlap pattern,
3.2. Experimental procedure
were extracted. The overlap rate was defined as the overlap size (S)
divided by the length of the scanning region (SR_L). Six overlap rates,
In order to validate the developed model, single scan tracks and
5%, 10%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%, were utilized. Based on the
block samples were fabricated. The experiments were carried out on a
widely adopted scanning patterns in SLM [13,22,27,31], four overlap
self-developed SLM machine which contained a continuous wave YLR-
patterns were chosen, as presented in Fig. 5, comprising unidirectional,
500 fibre laser (λ = 1.07 nm, IPG Laser GmbH, Germany) with a
vertical, symmetrical and alternating patterns.
maximum power of 500 W. Details of the SLM machine were described
When studying the effect of overlap rate on the residual stress, the
in previous publications [51,52]. The gas atomized Ti–6Al–4V powders
unidirectional pattern was used. When studying the effect of overlap
used in this study were spherical and the powder size was in the range
pattern on the residual stress, the overlap rate was kept constant at
of 20–50 μm. The experiments were carried out in an argon atmosphere
50%. All the scanning patterns were generated with a custom Matlab
with the concentrations of H2O and O2 both controlled to be below
script including the coordinate of the laser spot, the scanning track
200 ppm.
number and the island number. The generated array files were read by
Single scan tracks were deposited under a wide range of scanning
the ANSYS program. Using such scripting has been proven to be able to
velocities (500–1000 mm/s). After the deposition, single scan tracks
implement custom scanning strategies [17,21], which is convenient for
were cut from the substrate by wire electrical discharge. The deposited
the study in this paper.
single tracks were then ground and polished for metallography.
The scanning sequence is shown in Fig. 5. The total number of
Etchings were conducted with a mixture of 2 ml hydrofluoric acid, 8 ml
scanning tracks of island 1 was found to be 21 for all overlap patterns.
nitric acid and 90 ml deionized water. The microstructure was

Fig. 5. The overlap patterns used in the scanning region: (a) unidirectional; (b) vertical; (c) symmetrical; (d) alternating.

5
C. Chen, et al.
characterized through optical microscopy (OM; Nikon Epiphot 300).
The molten pool dimensions of single tracks were measured using
Image-Pro Plus 6.0 software. The molten pool sizes were taken as
average values after multiple measurements (~10 times).
A series of block samples (20 × 20 × 5 mm3) were deposited using
different overlap rates (5%, 10%, 25%, 50% and 100%). The other
process parameters used in the study were as listed in Table 2. The
block samples were not cut from the substrate and its surface residual
stresses were measured by X-ray diffractometer with a 3 mm spot dia-
meter. Lattice deformation of the Ti-α{110} was determined using Ti-Kα
radiation source 30 KV, 6.7 mA. When validating the distribution of the
residual stress, the residual stresses at the centre point of islands 1 and 2
and the overlap region were measured. When validating the effect of
the overlap rate, the positions of the test point were at the centre of the
top surface of the block. The measuring equipment was an X-350 A X-
ray diffractometer produced by Handan Stress Technologies Co., Ltd. It
is significant that the residual stresses of multiple points in one sample
can be obtained by the X-ray diffraction method without destroying the
sample. This method can therefore effectively measure the distribution
and values of residual stress.
4. Results and discussion
4.1. The distribution of temperature and stress
4.1.1. Heating stage
In the SLM process, the temperature distribution of the powder bed
and solidified component changes rapidly with time and space due to
the high-speed movement of the high-energy laser beam. The drastic
changes in temperature distribution lead to a very complex thermal
stress distribution. Fig. 6(a) shows the temperature distribution when
the laser scans the end of the first track of island 1. A high temperature
(up to 2271.41 °C) occurs in the laser heating region which exceeds the
melting temperature of Ti–6Al–4V (1650 °C), indicating that the metal
powder in the laser scanned area is melted. There is also a very high
temperature gradient around the laser spot on the powder bed due to an
applied Gaussian heat source. Meanwhile, the temperature at the be-
ginning of the first track reduces to ~300 °C, and so the solidified part
at this position begins to shrink. Similar results were presented in the
literature [17,20,35,36,41]. However, a distinctly different distribution
of thermal stress is presented in Fig. 6(d). It can be seen that equivalent
stress declines towards the laser heat zone. The equivalent stress in the
vicinity of the laser spot is close to 0 MPa while the maximum
equivalent stress (533.07 MPa) is found at the start of the track. The
reason for this is attributed to the fact that the elastic modulus of
Ti–6Al–4V reduces with temperature, as shown in Table 2. Therefore,
the relationship between equivalent stress and temperature distribution
is approximately opposite.
When the laser heats the middle track of island 1, as shown in Fig. 6
(b), the maximum temperature is 2342.91 °C, which is higher than that
when the laser heats the first track. The increase in maximum tem-
perature is attributed to the preheating effect from the previously so-
lidified region. As depicted in Fig. 6(e), the equivalent stress around the
middle track is very small but the equivalent stress around the first
track exceeds 640 MPa due to the corresponding temperature dis-
tribution. The maximum stress reaches 823.75 MPa and its position
moves from the beginning of the first track to the ending of the first
track. When the laser moves to the middle track of island 1, the be-
ginning of the first track is re-heated and the thermal stress in this
position is released. However, for the thermal stress at the end of the
first track, the temperature of the previously solidified materials is high
enough to prevent the release of the thermal stress [17]. Therefore, the
position of the maximum stress moves to the end of the first track.
The distribution of temperature and stress when the laser moves to
the end track are similar to that when the laser moves to the middle
track due to the unchanged scanning length and direction. The
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International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture 145 (2019) 103433
maximum temperature is 2342.59 °C, as shown in Fig. 6(c), which is
very close to the maximum temperature when the laser moves to the
middle track. The reason for this is attributed to the fact that the
thermal accumulation effect is gradually stabilized. The equivalent
stress continues to increase, caused by further temperature reduction,
and the maximum stress increases to 967.78 MPa.
When the laser irradiates the overlap region using a unidirectional
pattern (the black dashed region shown in Fig. 7), the temperature of
solidified materials in the overlap region increases again due to the
laser re-scanning and the distribution of the equivalent stress also
changes accordingly. As depicted in Fig. 7(a), with the laser heating, the
maximum temperature of the first track in the overlap region reaches
2293.65 °C. The result indicates that re-melting occurs at the first track
of the overlap region, which causes the thermal stress to reduce, as
shown in Fig. 7(d).
As the laser continues to scan island 2, as shown in Fig. 7(b) and (c),
a similar process occurs as mentioned above. All the overlap regions are
re-scanned and then undergo re-melting, and the maximum tempera-
ture increases to 2381.40 and 2381.92 °C when laser heats the middle
and the end track in the overlap region, respectively. The values are
higher than that when the laser heats the first track of the overlap re-
gion, which is also caused by a preheating effect from the previously
solidified material. At the same time, as shown in Fig. 7(e) and (f), the
equivalent stresses in the solidified materials reduce under laser heating
and then increase again with the gradual cooling process. However, the
stress levels of the overlap region are reduced in comparison with re-
gions which have not undergone re-scanning, as shown in Fig. 6(f).
Previous research has reported that the residual stress could be relieved
by heating the Ti–6Al–4V material to greater than 600 °C [53]. During
the laser re-scanning of the overlap region, the temperature is higher
than the threshold value, which causes the thermal stress in the overlap
region to reduce. Shiomi et al. [54] drew a similar conclusion through
experiment. On the other hand, the temperature in the overlap region is
still high before the laser heats island 2, indicating that a high pre-
heating temperature is provided. Therefore, the temperature gradient in
the overlap region is reduced [55]. According to the TGM mechanism
[14], the residual stress in the overlap region reduces.
4.1.2. Cooling stage
During the SLM process, the metal expands with the laser heating
but its thermal expansion is partially inhibited by the surrounding cold
material, inducing a compressive stress-strain condition in the heating
area. The material strength simultaneously decreases due to the in-
crease in temperature. If the compressive stress exceeds the yield
strength of the material, plastic strain will occur. After the laser leaves
the heating area, the material cools and begins to shrink. Since the
plastic deformation cannot be restored, the shrinkage of the material is
inhibited, inducing residual tensile stress in the heating area. According
to the equilibrium of force and momentum, the surrounding area pro-
duces residual compressive stress.
Fig. 8 depicts the distribution of residual stress after the part is
cooled down to room temperature. The X-component of stress (stress
along the X direction) is the largest, followed by the Y-component of
stress (stress along the Y direction), and the Z-component of stress
(stress along the Z direction) is the least. The reason for this due to the
temperature gradient along the X direction (parallel to the scanning
direction) being greater than that along the Y or Z directions [19].
Meanwhile, the maximum tensile stress in X, Y and Z directions are
1368.26, 987.56 and 537.63 MPa, respectively. The maximum com-
pressive stresses in X, Y and Z directions are −271.20, −240.38 and
−145.57 MPa, respectively. It can be seen that the maximum tensile
stress is higher than the maximum compressive stress, which was also
demonstrated by Luo [37]. During cooling, the solidified material
shrinks and is strongly constrained by the substrate, indicating that the
tensile stress determines in the SLM process [14]. Hence, the tensile
stress is much higher than compressive stress.
C. Chen, et al. International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture 145 (2019) 103433

Fig. 6. Temperature distribution of the powder bed when laser scans island 1 using the unidirectional pattern: (a) the first track, (b) the middle track, (c) the end
track, and equivalent stress distribution of the solid material when laser scans island 1 using the unidirectional pattern: (d) the first track, (e) the middle track, (f) the
end track.

As shown in Fig. 8 (a), the existence of the overlap region has a reported by Roberts [32]. This is the reason why the Y and Z-compo-
significant influence on the residual stress along the scanning direction. nents of stress vary only slightly in the overlap and non-overlap regions.
The residual stress in the overlap region near island 2 (area Ⅲ) is sig- In addition, as shown in Fig. 8(d), the distribution of equivalent stress is
nificantly higher than that in the overlap region near island 1 (area Ⅱ). similar to that of the X-component of stress because of the X-component
It is found that the smallest residual stress occurs at both ends of the of stress dominating in SLM.
part surface (area Ⅰ), and medium residual stress occurs in the non-
overlap region of island 1 (area Ⅳ). The position of area I is close to the
4.1.3. The thermal and stress history
free boundary and thus the residual stresses in this area are naturally
Fig. 9 depicts the thermal history of nodes N1 (non-overlap region in
very small [56]. Furthermore, with the laser heating of island 2, the
island 1), N2 (overlap region), and N3 (non-overlap region in island 2)
material in the overlap region is re-melted and expands with the in-
on the top surface of the powder bed. When the laser beam irradiates
crease in temperature. Since the expansion of the overlap region is in-
island 1, the thermal history of nodes N1 and N2 are similar. Both ex-
hibited by the surrounding material, compressive stress occurs in area
perience preheating of the front scanning tracks, direct heating by the
Ⅳ and partially offsets the previous tensile stress in this area. Therefore,
laser beam and post-heating of the post-scanning tracks [35]. The
the residual stress in the area Ⅳ reduces to a medium level. As the laser
maximum temperatures are 2327.11 and 2326.96 °C, respectively, and
moves away and the temperature decreases, the material in island 2
both exceed the melting temperature of the material. Therefore, the
begins to shrink. If the material is not constrained, the residual stress in
material state at the location of nodes N1 and N2 changes from powder
area Ⅱ will be as small as that in area Ⅰ. However, area Ⅱ is constrained
to solid. For node N3, the maximum temperature is 484.31 °C due to the
by area Ⅳ, resulting in a slightly higher residual stress. For area Ⅲ,
preheating from island 1. However, it does not reach the melting
since it is located in the middle of island 2 and is strongly inhibited by
temperature, indicating that the material at this position is still in
the surrounding material, a high stress level close to the yield strength
powder state. After the laser heating of island 1, it is found that the
is produced in this area.
temperatures of nodes N1, N2 and N3 are not reduced to room tem-
This situation does not occur in the Y and Z directions, as shown in
perature since the cooling time is not long enough to dissipate heat.
Fig. 8(b) and (c). As mentioned above, the temperature gradients along
When the laser heats island 2, the maximum temperature of node N2
the Y and Z directions are smaller than that along the X direction.
(2345.55 °C) rises above the melting temperature, indicating that the
Therefore, when the scanning length is constant, the effect of re-scan-
solidified material is melted again. The maximum temperature of node
ning on the temperature gradients along the Y and Z directions is less in
N3 (2334.43 °C) also exceeds the melting temperature because of the
comparison with that along the X direction. Similar results were
direct laser heating, and the material state at this position changes from

7
C. Chen, et al. International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture 145 (2019) 103433

Fig. 7. Temperature distribution of the powder bed when laser scans the overlap region using the unidirectional pattern with a 50% overlap rate: (a) the first track,
(b) the middle track, (c) the end track, and equivalent stress distribution of the solid material when laser scans the overlap region using the unidirectional pattern
with a 50% overlap rate: (d) the first track, (e) the middle track, (f) the end track.

Fig. 8. The residual stress distribution of the finished part at room temperature when using the unidirectional pattern with a 50% overlap rate: (a) X-component of
stress; (b) Y-component of stress; (c) Z-component of stress; (d) equivalent stress.

8
C. Chen, et al. International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture 145 (2019) 103433

Fig. 9. The thermal history of nodes N1, N2 and N3 on the top surface of the powder bed during the laser heating of island 1 and island 2 when using the
unidirectional pattern with a 50% overlap rate.

Fig. 10. The equivalent stress history of nodes N1, N2 and N3 on the top surface of the powder bed during the laser heating of island 1 and island 2 when using the
unidirectional pattern with a 50% overlap rate.

Fig. 11. The equivalent stress distribution of the finished part at room temperature when using different overlap rates with a unidirectional pattern: (a) 5%, (b) 10%,
(c) 25%, (d) 50%, (e) 75% and (f) 100%.

9
C. Chen, et al.
powder to solid. For node N1, the maximum temperature is 753.12 °C
caused by post-heating, which is larger than the maximum temperature
of node N1 during the laser scanning of island 1 (484.31 °C). This is
primarily due to the fact that the solid material has a higher con-
ductivity than the powder material. However, the value is still below
melting temperature because of the distance from the laser beam.
Fig. 10 shows the equivalent stress history of nodes N1, N2 and N3 on
the top surface of the powder bed. When the laser irradiates island 1,
the equivalent stresses of nodes N1 and N2 during the laser heating are
very small (< 50 MPa) due to the high temperature. As the laser moves
away and the temperature decreases, the equivalent stresses of nodes
N1 and N2 begin to gradually increase up to peak values of 604.74 and
607.08 MPa, respectively. The equivalent stress of node N3 always
maintains 0 MPa due to its material state (powder state) according to
the thermal history.
When the laser heats island 2, the equivalent stresses of nodes N1
and N2 begin to reduce due to the laser re-scanning, and the minimum
equivalent stresses of nodes N1 and N2 are 43.97 MPa and 0 MPa, re-
spectively. As can be seen, the equivalent stress of node N1 is partially
released but the equivalent stress of node N2 is completely released.
This is closely related to the thermal history experienced by each node.
During the laser heating of island 2, as shown in Fig. 9, node N1 is re-
heated but its temperature is lower than the melting temperature.
However, node N2 is fully melted as its temperature is higher than the
melting temperature. Therefore, the thermal stress of node N2 during
laser heating is eliminated. For node N3, after laser heating, the thermal
stress begins to increases gradually with the cooling process. When the
part cools down to room temperature, the maximum stresses of nodes
N1, N2 and N3 are 926.81, 708.89 and 966.13 MPa, respectively. The
residual stress in the overlap region is lower than that in the non-
overlap region, which is consistent with the previous analysis. As a
result, the thermal stress history during the SLM process is significantly
affected by the thermal history.
4.2. Effect of overlap rate
Fig. 11 illustrates the equivalent stress distribution using different
overlap rates when the part cools down to room temperature. It can be
seen that the stress profile shows a considerable difference when the
overlap rate is varied. When the overlap rate increases from 5% to 25%,
as shown in Fig. 11(a)–(c), the high-stress region in island 1 decreases
while the low-stress region significantly expands. As analysed above,
the re-scanning and preheating effect from the previous island relieves
the residual stress in the overlap region. The re-scanning region in-
creases with the overlap rate, which results in more stress release oc-
curring in island 1. Therefore, the residual stresses of the whole overlap
region are low with a small overlap rate. However, the opposite occurs
in island 2, where the high-stress region increases with the overlap rate.
This is because the scanning length increases with the overlap rate
(from 2.1 mm to 2.5 mm), which leads to an increase in the temperature
gradient [20,25]. When the overlap rate increases from 50% to 100%,
as shown in Fig. 11(d)–(f), it is found that the high-stress region con-
tinues to increase but the low-stress region gradually decreases, re-
vealing that the residual stress increases with the overlap rate. Although
the re-scanning region increases with the overlap region, which is
beneficial in reducing the residual stress, the scanning length in island 2
also increases with the overlap rate. Moreover, the overall temperature
of island 1 also decreases with the scanning length since the cooling
time is long enough to dissipate heat [20], indicating that the pre-
heating effect from the previous island on island 2 is weakened. Hence,
it is found that the residual stresses are high with a high overlap rate.
In order to further analyse the effect of overlap rate on the residual
stress, the quantitative description of stress variations along the X-di-
rection (the path Y = 2.5 mm) on the top surface of the powder bed is
shown in Fig. 12. It is worth noting that the low-stress region of the X-
component of stress and equivalent stress on the path moves to island 1
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International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture 145 (2019) 103433
with the increase of overlap rate as shown in Fig. 12(a) and (c). The X
coordinates of the minimum equivalent stress are 5.10, 5.00, 4.70, 4.15,
3.60 and 3.00 mm, respectively. This is because the low-stress region is
generally located at the beginning of the overlap region, as discussed in
section 4.1.2. The reduction of the Y-component of stress is obvious
both in island 1 and island 2 with the increase in overlap rate, as shown
in Fig. 12(b). The reason for this is that the re-scanning region increases
with overlap rate, but the scanning width does not change. Therefore,
the Y-component of stress can be relieved to a greater extent than the X-
component of stress.
The maximum X and Y-components of stress and equivalent stress
on the path are shown in Fig. 12(d). It is found that the maximum X-
component of stress decreases first and then increases with the overlap
rate. The minimum is 1104.27 MPa with a 25% overlap rate. The
maximum Y-component of stress decreases from 556.91 to 325.80 MPa
as the overlap rate increases from 5% to 100%. The value of maximum
equivalent stress also decreases first and then increases with the overlap
rate. The maximum equivalent stresses are small when the overlap rate
ranges from 25% to 50%. In terms of the maximum X-component of
stress and equivalent stress, an overlap rate of 25%–50% is re-
commended for the generally utilized island size.
In general, the overlap rate plays an important role in the residual
stress during island scanning. The X-component of stress and equivalent
stress decrease first and then increase with the overlap rate. These
values primarily depend on the combined action of the re-scanning,
preheating effect from the previous island and scanning length. The
appropriate choice of the overlap rate between the islands is one of the
measures to reduce the residual stress, which helps to improve stability
in the SLM process.
4.3. Effect of overlap pattern
Fig. 13 depicts the effect of overlap pattern on the residual stress
distribution with a 50% overlap rate. When using unidirectional,
symmetrical and alternating overlap patterns, the equivalent stress
distribution and stress level are similar. However, a distinct difference
in stress distribution occurs when using the vertical pattern, and the
equivalent stress level in the overlap region is significantly reduced. It is
therefore found that the overlap pattern affects the residual stress dis-
tribution during island scanning.
In order to find out the reason for the significant decrease of re-
sidual stress when using the vertical pattern, the X and Y-components of
stress and equivalent stress history of the node N2 are analysed in detail,
as shown in Fig. 14. When the laser beam irradiates island 1, it can be
seen that the X-component of stress increases with the decrease of
temperature while the Y-component of stress fluctuates around 0 MPa.
However, this situation is reversed when the laser heats island 2. The X-
component of stress fluctuates around 0 MPa while the Y-component of
stress increases with the decrease of temperature. This can be explained
by the fact that the temperature gradient parallel to the scanning di-
rection is much larger than that perpendicular to the scanning direction
[20,21,37], indicating that the thermal stress along the laser scanning
direction dominates during the process.
The variation of equivalent stress is similar to that of the X-com-
ponent of stress when the laser heats island, and is similar to that of the
Y-component of stress when the laser heats island 2. After node N2 cools
down to room temperature, the X and Y-components of stress are si-
milar, with values of 664.20 and 772.43 MPa, respectively. During the
laser re-scanning of the overlap region with a vertical pattern, the
thermal strain along the X direction generated in island 1 can be par-
tially eliminated due to the material re-melting, indicating that the X-
component of stress decreases. However, the thermal strain along the Y
direction increases due to the increased temperature gradient, in-
dicating that the Y-component of stress increases. Consequently, the
stress difference between the X and Y directions reduces with the
change of the laser scanning direction.
C. Chen, et al. International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture 145 (2019) 103433

Fig. 12. The stress variations along the X-direction on the path Y = 2.5 mm when using different overlap rates with a unidirectional pattern: (a) X-component of
stress, (b) Y-component of stress, (c) Z-component of stress, (d) the maximum stresses of X, Y-components of stress and equivalent stress.

When the Z-component of stress and shear stress are close to 0 MPa
according to the simulated results, Eq. (12) can be simplified to Eq.
(13):
σe = σx2 + σy2 − σx σy = σx − σy 2 + σx σy (13)
It is found that equivalent stress decreases with the decrease of the
absolute value of σx − σy . In addition, there is a long scan track length
(3 mm) when the laser heats island 1, but a short scan track length
(2 mm) when the laser heats island 2. As we have seen, the shorter scan
track length leads to lower residual stress. It can therefore be deduced
that the vertical pattern can reduce the equivalent stress in the overlap
region.
Fig. 15 depicts the influence of overlap pattern on the stress dif-
ference and equivalent stress on the path Y = 2.5 mm. The shaded area
is the overlap region. As shown in Fig. 15 (a), there is a low difference
in stress (3.80–153.32 MPa) between the X and Y directions in the
overlap region when using the vertical pattern but a high difference in
stress (396.18–730.50 MPa) when using the other three overlap pat-
terns. It is found that the vertical pattern reduces the stress difference
by more than 2.5 times. For the non-overlap region of island 1, the
stress differences with different overlap patterns are close due to the
unchanged scanning direction and scanning length. However, the stress
difference near the overlap region caused by the vertical pattern is

Fig. 13. The equivalent stress distribution of the finished part at room temperature when using different overlap patterns with a 50% overlap rate: (a) unidirectional,
(b) vertical, (c) symmetrical, (d) alternating.

11
C. Chen, et al.
Fig. 14. The X, Y-components of stress and equivalent stress histories of node N2 during the laser heating of island 1 and island 2 when using the vertical pattern with
a 50% overlap rate.
small in comparison with the other three overlap patterns. This is be-
cause the vertical pattern has a smaller scanning length during the laser
re-scanning of the overlap region, which makes the thermal expansion
more obvious, and thus more of the X-component of tensile stress near
the overlap region is offset. Meanwhile, the equivalent stress in this
region also decreases correspondingly, as shown in Fig. 15(b). For the
non-overlap region in island 2, the stress difference increases with X-
distance when using a vertical pattern and reaches its maximum
(640.88 MPa) at the edge. However, the stress difference decreases with
X-distance when using the other three overlap patterns. The opposite
trend in stress difference is attributed to the change of laser scanning
direction.
As shown in Fig. 15(b), the vertical pattern can reduce the residual
stress in both the overlap and non-overlap regions. The maximum
equivalent stress is 823.34 MPa when using the vertical pattern, while
the maximum equivalent stress is higher than 960 MPa when using
other three overlap patterns. It can be concluded that the laser vertical
re-scanning the overlap region with a short scanning length is beneficial
to a reduction of the residual stress.
4.4. Effect of scanning dimensions
In order to verify the applicability of the research results, the effects
of scanning dimensions on the residual stress were investigated when
using the island strategy. Fig. 16 depicts the scanning dimensions on the
residual stress distribution with a 10% overlap rate and unidirectional
Fig. 15. The quantitative variations of the finished part on the path Y = 2.5 mm when using different overlap patterns with a 50% overlap rate: (a) the stress
difference between X and Y directions, (b) equivalent stress.
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International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture 145 (2019) 103433
pattern. As shown in Fig. 16(a), the residual stress distribution is similar
at different scanning lengths (from 4 mm to 20 mm). The difference is
that the residual stress increases with the scanning length, which is also
demonstrated in the study. Similar results also occur at different scan-
ning widths (from 0.5 mm to 4 mm), as shown in Fig. 16(b), whereby
the high stress occurs in the non-overlap region and low stress occurs in
the overlap region.
Fig. 17 depicts the stress variation along the X-direction on the top
surface of the powder bed. As shown in Fig. 17(a), the maximum
equivalent stresses on the path are 1110.78, 1195.46 and 1198.08 MPa,
respectively. The maximum stress tends to stabilize after the scanning
length exceeds 10 mm since the scanning length is long enough to fully
dissipate the heat and result in a stable temperature gradient [20]. As
shown in Fig. 17(b), the maximum equivalent stresses on the path are
1110.78, 978.61 and 954.57 MPa, respectively. The maximum stress
tends to decrease with the scanning width, due to the decreased tem-
perature gradient caused by additional pre-heating processes. In gen-
eral, the predicted distributions of the residual stress at different
scanning dimensions are similar. Therefore, the simulated results in
section 4.1-4.3 are credible.
4.5. Experimental validation
4.5.1. The dimensions of the molten pool
Due to the high laser scanning velocity and small melting region in
the study, ~1000 mm/s and ~0.1 mm2 respectively, the temperature is
C. Chen, et al. International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture 145 (2019) 103433

Fig. 16. The equivalent stress distribution of the finished part at room temperature when using different scanning dimensions with a 10% overlap rate: (a) scanning
length ranges from 4 mm to 20 mm with a 0.5 mm scanning width; (b) scanning width ranges from 0.5 to 4 mm with a 4 mm scanning length.

Fig. 17. The equivalent stress variations of the finished part when using different scanning dimensions with a 10% overlap rate: (a) scanning length ranges from
4 mm to 20 mm with a 0.5 mm scanning width; (b) scanning width ranges from 0.5 to 4 mm with a 4 mm scanning length.

difficult to measure directly during the SLM process. In order to eval-
uate the thermal analysis, the molten pool widths and depths are gen-
erally utilized for verification. This method is widely adopted for the
SLM process [17,21,36,57,58]. Fig. 18(a) depicts the isothermal curves
of simulation and the black line presents the contour of the molten pool
according to the melting temperature (1650 °C). Fig. 18(b) presents the
size calculation method of the molten pool in the selective laser melted
tracks.
As shown in Fig. 19, the simulation results agree well with the ex-
perimental results. Both the simulated and experimental results de-
monstrate that the dimensions of the molten pool decrease with the
scanning velocity. With an increase in the scanning velocity, the energy
input absorbed by the powder material decreases due to the reduced
interaction time of the laser with the powder material. Therefore, the
molten powder materials also decrease, which causes the dimensions of
the molten pool to decrease with the scanning velocity. The maximum
relative error for the molten pool width and depth are 18.67% and
13.87%, respectively. It is found that the simulated results are slightly
larger than the experimental results. The reason for this may be because
the flow in the molten pool is not considered [59,60], which decreases
the rapid loss of heat. As a result, the comparison results prove the
accuracy of the thermal analysis.
4.5.2. Residual stress
A comparison of the residual stress obtained from simulation and
experiment is shown in Fig. 20. The residual stress distribution is

Fig. 18. The size calculation method of the molten pool dimensions: (a) the predicted molten width in the X–Y plane and the predicted molten depth in the X-Z plane;
(b) the experimental width and depth at the cross-section (Y-Z plane).

13
C. Chen, et al. International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture 145 (2019) 103433

Fig. 19. Comparison of the molten pool dimensions obtained from simulation and experiment as the laser speed increases from 500 to 1000 mm/s: (a) the width of
the molten pool; (b) the depth of the molten pool.

verified by comparing the residual stress in non-overlap and overlap
regions, as shown in Fig. 20(a)–(c). It is found that the simulated results
have the same trend as the experimental data, i.e. the residual stresses
in the non-overlap region are higher than that in the overlap region.
This is because the residual stresses in the overlap region are released
by re-scanning and preheating effects from the previous island.
The effects of the overlap rate on the residual stress are also vali-
dated, as shown in Fig. 20 (d)–(f). Both the simulated results and ex-
perimental data demonstrate that the X-component of stress and
equivalent stress both decrease first and then increase with the overlap
rate, and the Y-component of stress decreases with the overlap rate.
This is explained by the combined action of the re-scanning, preheating
effect from the previous island and scanning length. It is found that the
residual stresses predicted by the model are higher than those measured
by the experiment, in particular the X-component of stress. The main
reason for this is due to the fact that the simulation is a single-layer
process, indicating that a large temperature gradient is produced
between the solidified region and the cold substrate. However, the
experiment is a multi-layer process, resulting in the previous scanning
process preheating the later powder layer and a resulting decrease in
temperature gradient [61,62]. It can therefore be found that the si-
mulated stresses are higher than the experimental data. In general, the
simulation results are well verified by the experimental results, and the
3D FE model is reliable.
5. Conclusions
A 3D finite element model based on the sequentially coupled
thermal-structural method was developed to predict the effect of
overlap region on the residual stress induced by the island scanning
strategy in the SLM process. The simulated results were in good
agreement with the experimental data, including the molten pool di-
mension, residual stress distribution and the effect of overlap rate on
the residual stress. The main conclusions are as follows:

Fig. 20. Comparison of the residual stress obtained from simulation and experiment: residual stress distribution of (a) X-component of stress, (b) Y-component of
stress and (c) equivalent stress using the unidirectional pattern with a constant overlap rate of 10%; the effect of overlap rate on the residual stress of (d) X-
component of stress, (e) Y-component of stress and (f) equivalent stress at the centre point of the sample using the unidirectional pattern.

14
C. Chen, et al.
(1) The existence of the overlap region has the most influence on the X-
component of stress in comparison with the Y and Z-components of
stress when using the unidirectional pattern, since the temperature
gradient along the scanning direction dominates in the SLM pro-
cess.
(2) As the overlap rate increases, the stress release effect caused by the
laser re-scanning increases due to the increased re-scanning region,
resulting in a decrease of the high-stress region, the maximum X-
component of stress and equivalent stress. However, if the overlap
rate is too high, a long scanning track and a weakened pre-heating
effect occur at the later island, and thus induce a large temperature
gradient in this island, resulting in an increase of the high-stress
region, the maximum X-component of stress and equivalent stress.
Therefore, the X-component of stress and equivalent stress decrease
first and then increase with the increase of the overlap rate. In
terms of the maximum X-component of stress and equivalent stress,
an overlap rate of 25%–50% is recommended for the generally
utilized island size.
(3) The laser vertical re-scanning the overlap region with a short
scanning length is beneficial in reducing the residual stress, which
is caused by the small stress difference between directions parallel
to and perpendicular to laser scanning directions and by the small
temperature gradient. Therefore, the vertical overlap pattern can be
used to optimise the island scanning strategy.
(4) The scanning dimensions have little effect on the distribution of
residual stress. But the magnitude of the residual stress increases
with the scanning length due to the increased temperature gradient,
and decreases with the scanning width due to the decreased tem-
perature gradient caused by additional pre-heating processes.
The importance of the overlap region for the residual stress, as far as
we know, has rarely been recognized before. This study provides an
understanding of the overlap rate and pattern and is helpful in reducing
the residual stress in the SLM process.
Acknowledgments
This research is supported by the National Program on Key Basic
Research Project (973 Program) of China (613281). The Authors also
thank the Analytical and Testing Centre of HUST for the SEM, XRD and
EDS analysis.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmachtools.2019.103433.
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