Texture of inclined up-facing surfaces in laser powder bed fusion of metals

Considerable surface texture is one of the typical drawbacks laser powder bed fusion (LPBF). Especially up-facing inclined surfaces suffer from insufficient quality, due to combination staircase effect (also called stair-stepping effect), attached particles and elevated edges (edge effect). In this work, contribution edge topography investigated in detail for first time. Moreover, contour scanning was evaluated on over whole range inclinations, horizontal vertical. The found play a dominant role with low inclination angle, especially when used. A suitable strategy can thus be determined each inclination. present study, an optimization allowed significant improvement quality. arithmetical mean height roughness profile Ra could reduced up 52% 20% high inclinations 32% vertical walls.