Selective laser melting (SLM) technology is an additive manufacturing technique, which allows producing metal parts with low consumption of the metal material. The SLM manufactured parts have good mechanical properties and can be applied in many different fields such as mechanical engineering, automotive, aerospace, etc. The main properties of a part manufactured by SLM technology depend on the attributes of a single track and single layer characteristics. In SLM processes, powder is usually fed by layers into a platform, where a focused laser beam heats a spot on the substrate to form a melt pool, spot solidifies quickly after the laser beam moves away.
In this study selective laser melting technology will be applied with different powder materials and gasses. A layer of material powder is deposited on a square-shaped steel substrate. Laser beam is attached to a CNC machine where it can move by different coordinates. It is possible to set different laser scanning speed values. Laser beam attacks the substrate in a gas pumped chamber and melts a track. After the track is melted the results are evaluated by using SEM and optical microscopy.
The study results consist of a thorough analysis of the single laser melted powder material parameters such as laser power, scanning speed, thickness of a layer, working conditions (temperature of the base, used gases).
