VISVESVARAYA TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

JNANA SANGAMA, BELAGAVI - 590 018

A SEMINAR REPORT
on
“DIRECT METAL LASER SINTERING”
Submitted by
Vishu kumar B 4SF15ME185
In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the VIII Semester of
BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING
In
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Under the Guidance of
Mr. Gagan Shetty K
Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering

SAHYADRI
College of Engineering & Management
Adyar, Mangaluru – 575 007
2018 – 19.

1
 OVERVIEW

Introduction
Literature survey
Objective
Methodology
Experimental analysis
Experimental observation
Conclusion
Reference
 INTRODUCTION
 Traditional subtractive manufacturing technologies such as, milling, tapping and turning
create 3D physical models by removing material using cutting tools.

 The movement of the cutting tools is manually controlled by the machinist.

 With the rapid development of CAD/CAE technology, additive manufacturing(AM) or

Rapid Prototype came into existence.

 One major disadvantage of traditional manufacturing is the inefficient to build complex

geometry. Features such as small holes inside a block are hard to manufacture due to the
process constraints, i.e. the interference between the cutting tool and part.

 Additionally when the sample size is small, the time for process planning and NC
programming can constitute a significant portion of the time needed to manufacture the
part.
 INTRODUCTION (Contd.…)
As one of the rapid prototyping processes, the laser sintering (DMLS) technique
builds prototype by depositing and melting powder material layer by layer.

Direct metal laser sintering follows AM technique to produce complex structure and
intricate shape which can not be manufactured by traditional methods.

DMLS fabricates prototype model layer by layer and solidifies the metal powder in
each layer and thickness of each layer is about 20-30 micrometer.

DMLS uses high power 200 watt Yb (Ytterbium) optic laser to fuse the metal
powder.
 LITERATURE SURVEY
A. Simchi et al. [1] has done the experimental analysis on “Direct laser sintering of

metal powders”. Based on this study, he found that as laser energy input increases

better densification is achieved. That is, higher laser power, lower scan rate, lower

scan line spacing, lower layer thickness and increases densification.

Hanuma Reddy Tiyyaguraa et al. [2] have done experimental analysis on “The effect

of post-processing and machining process parameters on Stainless Steel PH1 product

produced by direct metal laser sintering”. Based on this study, he founded that the

samples of Stainless Steel PH1 were fabricated by Direct Metal Laser Sintering

additive manufacturing technique and few tensile specimens also treated thermally

achieved good strengths.

 LITERATURE SURVEY ( Contd..)
Prof. Dr. Ir. J.P. Kruth et al. [3] have done research on “Binding Mechanisms in
Selective Laser Sintering and Selective Laser Melting”. Based on this study, he
concluded that full melting metal powders was explored, supported by the continuously
improving process parameters resulting in mechanical properties being much better than
those of early time selective laser sintered parts and comparable with bulk metal
properties.

Brent Stucker et al. [4] has done experimental analysis on “A review of thermal
analysis methods in Laser Sintering and Selective Laser Melting”. Based on this study,
he concluded that better understanding of SLM sintering and binding mechanisms will
lead to better modeling of the SLM thermal field. Better understanding of the input
energy model, which includes laser beam distribution, energy penetration and material
absorption ratio and the thermal properties before and after laser scanning are needed.
 OBJECTIVES
To study the mechanism of laser sintering.

 To study the characteristics of fabricated sample.

 To study the machining parameters in direct metal laser sintering.

 DIRECT METAL LASER SINTERING
The Laser sintering process is one of the RP methods which is used to 3D
model from metal composites.

Depending on the application, the metallic powder can be melted directly

to build functional prototypes.

There are two different metal sintering methods proposed based on LS

technologies:

I. Powder bed

II. Powder deposition

Continued….

• In powder bed method, piston is raised to supply powder to the platform.

• In Powder deposition method, metal powder is poured through hopper

which will melts the powder and fuses the particles.
 METHODOLOGY

3D CAD model 3-D .STL model 2-D layer model

Data preparation stage
 METHODOLOGY
Part building

In this second stage, a laser is controlled to selectively sinter layers of material
continuously to create the 3-D physical model.

A metallic powder system is equipped with the powder supply cylinder filled up with
two kinds of mixed metallic components. The powder is provided to the working
cylinder in a thin layer of a fixed thickness.

After that the powder surface in the working cylinder will be scanned with a high-
energy CO2 laser system according a definite pattern. The layer sintering process is
repeated till the whole part is created.
Continued..
 MACHINE PROCESS PARAMETER
1) Part orientation
The orientation of 3-D digital model is defined as the normal direction of sliced layers.

Part orientation is important because it greatly affects most of the final properties.

2) Scan path pattern

The scan paths are important to the final sintering quality. Geometrically, two popular
path patterns are widely used in RP.

One is a contour (spiral) path pattern that comprises of a set of contours parallel to the
layer boundary with different offset values. The other is a parallel path pattern that
comprises of a series of parallel hatch lines along a fixed direction.
Continued

Figure (a) Spiral path pattern (b) parallel path pattern

Continued..
3) Scaling

In the SLS process, a focused laser beam is delivered onto the powder (sand, plastic,
metal, etc.), to heat and melt the powder. The material is combined together and the
model is built layer by layer.

In order to build parts with high accuracy, it is necessary to scale the 2D layer files to the
beam diameter.

4) Layer thickness

The strength of the part, which is primarily a function of density or porosity.

But strength has a reverse trend with layer thickness. Thickness also has a close
relationship with the surface quality.
 Continued…
5) Scan speed and laser power
The energy needed to melt the metallic powder is much more than that
needed to melt polymer powder, which is often used in the SLS process.
Therefore, high laser power and slow scan speed are normally used in the
metal sintering.
 Normally, a higher laser power and slower scan speed also bring higher part
strength because more energy is absorbed by the loose metallic powder
 EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS
The samples were fabricated from the fully dense spherical Stainless Steel PH1 alloy
powder, with composition of Fe, Mn, Cr, Si, Ni, Mo, Cu, Nb and Carbon.

The relative density of powder raw material was with standard parameters 7.8 g/cm3.
The powder particle diameters were 5 – 30 μm.

The overall length L is 80mm and all the size values are set following the ASTM
standard.

The samples of Stainless Steel PH1 were fabricated in an Argon atmosphere where
the oxygen concentration was 0.1% with the 40°C pre-heating machining chamber
for DMLS machining process.

The specimens were built with a 0.235mm offset for the laser beam set by the
machine.

All of the tensile specimens were manufactured with constant laser power at 195
and scan speed at 900 mm/s.
Continued…..
Process parameters Value
• Laser powder, P Varied from 150 W to 195 W
• Scan speed, v Varied from 700 mm/s to 900 mm/s
• Layer thickness, H = 40 μm
• Trace Width (Laser Beam Diameter), Dlb = 0.1 mm
• Overlap of traces, OL 30%
• Hatch distance, h = Dlb –OL×Dlb = 70 μm
• Beam compensation, Bo = 0.050 mm
• Pre-Heating = 40°C
Continued…
3D model according to the dimension is prepared from CAD software and it is
converted to STL file. STL file consists of series of triangulation on the surface.
STL file is fetched to the AM machine.
In the fabrication chamber, metal powder is poured to the platform and layer by layer
fabrication takes place.
Five test specimens that have the same layer thickness were built on one base each
time.
After the specimens were built, the surface roughness (Ra) and the tensile strength of
each one were tested.
value of the length L was measured accurately to determine the dimensional
accuracy.
 ANALYSIS
It can be seen that after heat treatment the tensile strength of the DMLS parts is
increased..

When more laser energy is provided by adjusting the scan speed or laser power, more
binder powder will be melted to fill the pores.

 When increasing the laser power or decreasing the scan speed, the shrinkage along
the sintering (length) direction, shrinkage will be larger when more energy is
absorbed by the powder.

when we increase the layer thickness, the in-plane shrinkage will be larger because
more powders need to be sintered.

Hence dimensional accuracy can be improved by controlling shrinkage.

 CONCLUSSION

• Higher laser power, low scan speed and low layer thickness shows better
surface finish.

• Low scan speed provides enough time to melt and solidify the metal powder
and gives good finish to the model.

• Layer thickness must be less to lower surface hardness. Low thickness helps
less amount of powder to spread and takes less time to melt it.

• Higher layer thickness provides distortion to the material.

 REFERENCES
[1] Kai Zeng, Deepankar Pal, Brent Stucker, “A review of thermal analysis methods in

Laser Sintering and Selective Laser Melting”, University of Louisville, page 796-814,

2018

[2] Dr. Ir. J.P. Kruth, P. Mercelis, Prof. Dr. Ir. L. Froyen, Marleen Rombouts, “Binding

Mechanisms in Selective Laser Sintering and Selective Laser Melting”, University of

Leuven, pp 44-59, 2014.

[3] Snehashis Pala, Hanuma Reddy Tiyyaguraa, Igor Drstvenseka, Cheruvu Siva

Kumar, “The effect of post-processing and machining process parameters on properties

of Stainless Steel PH1 product produced by Direct Metal Laser Sintering”, Procedia, pp

359-365, 2013.
Continued….
[4] A. Simchi, “Direct laser sintering of metal powders: Mechanism, kinetics and
microstructural features”, Materials Science and Engineering A428, pp 148-158, 2016.

[5] D. Manfredi, F. Calignano, E. P. Ambrosio, M.Krishnan, R. Canali, S. Biamino, M.

Pavese, E. Atzeni, L. Iuliano, P. Fino, C. Badini; “Direct Metal Laser Sintering: an
additive manufacturing technology”, La Metallurgia Italiana, pp 148-158, 2015.