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Proposal of design rules for improving the accuracy of selective laser melting (SLM) manufacturing using benchmarks parts

Sara Giganto (Department of Manufacturing Engineering, Universidad de León – Campus de Vegazana, León, Spain)
Susana Martínez-Pellitero (Department of Manufacturing Engineering, Universidad de Leon, León, Spain)
Eduardo Cuesta (Department of Construction and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain)
Pablo Zapico (Department of Construction and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain)
Joaquín Barreiro (Department of Manufacturing Engineering, Universidad de León – Campus de Vegazana, León, Spain)

Rapid Prototyping Journal

ISSN: 1355-2546

Article publication date: 31 January 2022

Issue publication date: 23 May 2022

632

Abstract

Purpose

Among the different methodologies used for performance control in precision manufacturing, the measurement of metrological test artefacts becomes very important for the characterization, optimization and performance evaluation of additive manufacturing (AM) systems. The purpose of this study is to design and manufacture several benchmark artefacts to evaluate the accuracy of the selective laser melting (SLM) manufacturing process.

Design/methodology/approach

Artefacts consist of different primitive features (planes, cylinders and hemispheres) on sloped planes (0°, 15°, 30°, 45°) and stair-shaped and sloped planes (from 0° to 90°, at 5° intervals), manufactured in 17-4PH stainless steel. The artefacts were measured optically by a structured light scanner to verify the geometric dimensioning and tolerancing of SLM manufacturing.

Findings

The results provide design recommendations for precision SLM manufacturing of 17-4PH parts. Regarding geometrical accuracy, it is recommended to avoid surfaces with 45° negative slopes or higher. On the other hand, the material shrinkage effect can be compensated by resizing features according to X and Y direction.

Originality/value

No previous work has been found that evaluates accuracy when printing inwards (pockets) and outwards (pads) geometries at different manufacturing angles using SLM. The proposed artefacts can be used to determine the manufacturing accuracy of different AM systems by resizing to fit the build envelope of the system to evaluate. Analysis of manufactured benchmark artefacts allows to determine rules for the most suitable design of the desired parts.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Junta de Castilla y León under grant project number LE027P17-FEDER.

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by the Junta de Castilla y León and FEDER (project ref. LE027P17).

Citation

Giganto, S., Martínez-Pellitero, S., Cuesta, E., Zapico, P. and Barreiro, J. (2022), "Proposal of design rules for improving the accuracy of selective laser melting (SLM) manufacturing using benchmarks parts", Rapid Prototyping Journal, Vol. 28 No. 6, pp. 1129-1143. https://doi.org/10.1108/RPJ-06-2021-0130

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited

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