Enhancing Fatigue Life of Metal Parts Produced by High-Speed Laser Powder Bed Fusion Through In Situ Surface Quality Improvement
The poor surface quality of the metal parts produced by laser powder bed fusion limits their application in load-bearing components, as it promotes crack initiation under cyclic loadings. Consequently, improving part quality relies on time-consuming surface finishing. This work explores a dual-laser...
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MDPI AG
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Journal of Manufacturing and Materials Processing |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2504-4494/9/7/207 |
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| author | Daniel Ordnung Mirko Sinico Thibault Mertens Han Haitjema Brecht Van Hooreweder |
| author_facet | Daniel Ordnung Mirko Sinico Thibault Mertens Han Haitjema Brecht Van Hooreweder |
| author_sort | Daniel Ordnung |
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| description | The poor surface quality of the metal parts produced by laser powder bed fusion limits their application in load-bearing components, as it promotes crack initiation under cyclic loadings. Consequently, improving part quality relies on time-consuming surface finishing. This work explores a dual-laser powder bed fusion strategy to simultaneously improve the productivity, surface quality, and fatigue life of parts with inclined up-facing surfaces made from a novel tool steel. This is achieved by combining building using a high layer thickness of 120 μm with in situ quality enhancement through powder removal and laser remelting. A bending fatigue campaign was conducted to assess the performance of such treated samples produced with different layer thicknesses (60 μm, hull-bulk 60/120 μm, 120 μm) compared to as-built and machined reference samples. Remelting consistently enhanced the fatigue life compared to the as-built reference samples by up to a factor of 36. The improvement was attributed to the reduced surface roughness, the reduced critical stress concentration factors, and the gradually changing surface features with increased lateral dimensions. This led to a beneficial load distribution and fewer potential crack initiation points. Finally, the remelting samples produced with a layer thickness of 120 μm enhanced the fatigue life by a factor of four and reduced the production time by 30% compared to the standard approach using a layer thickness of 60 μm. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-8cd70ec6c2cc4600bae6d495cf42c59b |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2504-4494 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Manufacturing and Materials Processing |
| spelling | doaj-art-8cd70ec6c2cc4600bae6d495cf42c59b2025-08-20T03:36:18ZengMDPI AGJournal of Manufacturing and Materials Processing2504-44942025-06-019720710.3390/jmmp9070207Enhancing Fatigue Life of Metal Parts Produced by High-Speed Laser Powder Bed Fusion Through In Situ Surface Quality ImprovementDaniel Ordnung0Mirko Sinico1Thibault Mertens2Han Haitjema3Brecht Van Hooreweder4Department of Mechanical Engineering, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven, BelgiumDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven, BelgiumDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven, BelgiumDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven, BelgiumDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven, BelgiumThe poor surface quality of the metal parts produced by laser powder bed fusion limits their application in load-bearing components, as it promotes crack initiation under cyclic loadings. Consequently, improving part quality relies on time-consuming surface finishing. This work explores a dual-laser powder bed fusion strategy to simultaneously improve the productivity, surface quality, and fatigue life of parts with inclined up-facing surfaces made from a novel tool steel. This is achieved by combining building using a high layer thickness of 120 μm with in situ quality enhancement through powder removal and laser remelting. A bending fatigue campaign was conducted to assess the performance of such treated samples produced with different layer thicknesses (60 μm, hull-bulk 60/120 μm, 120 μm) compared to as-built and machined reference samples. Remelting consistently enhanced the fatigue life compared to the as-built reference samples by up to a factor of 36. The improvement was attributed to the reduced surface roughness, the reduced critical stress concentration factors, and the gradually changing surface features with increased lateral dimensions. This led to a beneficial load distribution and fewer potential crack initiation points. Finally, the remelting samples produced with a layer thickness of 120 μm enhanced the fatigue life by a factor of four and reduced the production time by 30% compared to the standard approach using a layer thickness of 60 μm.https://www.mdpi.com/2504-4494/9/7/207laser powder bed fusionlaser remeltingsurface qualityfatigueproductivitylayer thickness |
| spellingShingle | Daniel Ordnung Mirko Sinico Thibault Mertens Han Haitjema Brecht Van Hooreweder Enhancing Fatigue Life of Metal Parts Produced by High-Speed Laser Powder Bed Fusion Through In Situ Surface Quality Improvement Journal of Manufacturing and Materials Processing laser powder bed fusion laser remelting surface quality fatigue productivity layer thickness |
| title | Enhancing Fatigue Life of Metal Parts Produced by High-Speed Laser Powder Bed Fusion Through In Situ Surface Quality Improvement |
| title_full | Enhancing Fatigue Life of Metal Parts Produced by High-Speed Laser Powder Bed Fusion Through In Situ Surface Quality Improvement |
| title_fullStr | Enhancing Fatigue Life of Metal Parts Produced by High-Speed Laser Powder Bed Fusion Through In Situ Surface Quality Improvement |
| title_full_unstemmed | Enhancing Fatigue Life of Metal Parts Produced by High-Speed Laser Powder Bed Fusion Through In Situ Surface Quality Improvement |
| title_short | Enhancing Fatigue Life of Metal Parts Produced by High-Speed Laser Powder Bed Fusion Through In Situ Surface Quality Improvement |
| title_sort | enhancing fatigue life of metal parts produced by high speed laser powder bed fusion through in situ surface quality improvement |
| topic | laser powder bed fusion laser remelting surface quality fatigue productivity layer thickness |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2504-4494/9/7/207 |
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