Rapid Prototyping Journal

The investigation of the influence of laser re-melting on density, surface quality and microstructure of
selective laser melting parts
Evren Yasa Jan Deckers Jean-Pierre Kruth
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To cite this document:
Evren Yasa Jan Deckers Jean-Pierre Kruth, (2011),"The investigation of the influence of laser re-melting on density, surface
quality and microstructure of selective laser melting parts", Rapid Prototyping Journal, Vol. 17 Iss 5 pp. 312 - 327
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J-P. Kruth, P. Mercelis, J. Van Vaerenbergh, L. Froyen, M. Rombouts, (2005),"Binding mechanisms in selective laser sintering
and selective laser melting", Rapid Prototyping Journal, Vol. 11 Iss 1 pp. 26-36 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13552540510573365
Peter Mercelis, Jean-Pierre Kruth, (2006),"Residual stresses in selective laser sintering and selective laser melting", Rapid
Prototyping Journal, Vol. 12 Iss 5 pp. 254-265 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13552540610707013
Ben Vandenbroucke, Jean-Pierre Kruth, (2007),"Selective laser melting of biocompatible metals for rapid manufacturing of
medical parts", Rapid Prototyping Journal, Vol. 13 Iss 4 pp. 196-203 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13552540710776142

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 The investigation of the influence of laser
re-melting on density, surface quality and
microstructure of selective laser melting parts
Evren Yasa, Jan Deckers and Jean-Pierre Kruth
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Catholic University of Leuven, Heverlee, Belgium

Abstract
Purpose – Selective laser melting (SLM) is a powder metallurgical (PM) additive manufacturing process whereby a three-dimensional part is built in a
layer-wise manner. During the process, a high intensity laser beam selectively scans a powder bed according to the computer-aided design data of the
part to be produced and the powder metal particles are completely molten. The process is capable of producing near full density (,98-99 per cent
relative density) and functional metallic parts with a high geometrical freedom. However, insufficient surface quality of produced parts is one of the
important limitations of the process. The purpose of this study is to apply laser re-melting using a continuous wave laser during SLM production of
316L stainless steel and Ti6Al4V parts to overcome this limitation.
Design/methodology/approach – After each layer is fully molten, the same slice data are used to re-expose the layer for laser re-melting. In this
manner, laser re-melting does not only improve the surface quality on the top surfaces, but also has the potential to change the microstructure and to
improve the obtained density. The influence of laser re-melting on the surface quality, density and microstructure is studied varying the operating
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parameters for re-melting such as scan speed, laser power and scan spacing.
Findings – It is concluded that laser re-melting is a promising method to enhance the density and surface quality of SLM parts at a cost of longer
production times. Laser re-melting improves the density to almost 100 per cent whereas 90 per cent enhancement is achieved in the surface quality of
SLM parts after laser re-melting. The microhardness is improved in the laser re-molten zone if sufficiently high-energy densities are provided, probably
due to a fine-cell size encountered in the microstructure.
Originality/value – There has been extensive research in the field of laser surface modification techniques, e.g. laser polishing, laser hardening and
laser surface melting, applied to bulk materials produced by conventional manufacturing processes. However, those studies only relate to laser
enhancement of surface or sub-surface properties of parts produced using bulk material. They do not aim at enhancement of core material properties,
nor surface enhancement of (rough) surfaces produced in a PM way by SLM. This study is carried out to cover the gap and analyze the advantages of
laser re-melting in the field of additive manufacturing.

Keywords Surface roughness, Solid freeform fabrication, Rapid manufacturing, Layered manufacturing, Surface texture, Metallurgy

Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction The main components of an SLM machine are shown in

Laser-based additive manufacturing techniques offer an almost
unlimited flexibility of geometry and complexity, providing
special opportunities in various application areas such as
conformal cooling channels, dental and bone implants, light-
weight designed porous structures, etc. (Figure 1). Compared to
other layer manufacturing technologies, selective laser melting
(SLM) has the advantage to produce parts that have mechanical
properties comparable to those of bulk materials (Kruth et al.,
2004). SLM allows fabrication of three-dimensional physical
models, parts and tools and is able to produce almost
100 per cent dense parts directly from design data using
customary metal powders. Like other additive processes, SLM
allows to produce very complex parts which are almost
impossible to make with conventional production techniques.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1355-2546.htm
Figure 2: a laser source, a scanning system, a building
platform where the part is generated, a feed container where
the powder is stored and a roller or scraper to lay a powder
layer homogenously on previously deposited layers. After a
powder layer is laid on the base plate, the laser beam
selectively scans the bed tracing the layer geometry. Then the
build cylinder is lowered with an amount equal to the layer
thickness (30-70 mm). The roller puts a new layer of powder
and the laser scans the new slice. This process continues until
the part is completely produced.
Although the SLM process provides many advantages
compared to conventional machining, low surface quality is
one of the major drawbacks. Second, despite the fact
that the process is capable of making almost fully dense
(,98-99 per cent) parts, a little residual porosity may be still
problematic for some applications where high strength is
necessary. In the scope of this study, laser re-melting is
employed during SLM fabrication to overcome these
limitations. After scanning a layer and melting the powder,

Rapid Prototyping Journal

17/5 (2011) 312– 327 Received: 10 November 2009
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 1355-2546] Revised: 17 May 2010, 16 August 2010
[DOI 10.1108/13552541111156450] Accepted: 11 November 2010

312
 Influence of laser re-melting on density, surface quality and microstructure
Evren Yasa, Jan Deckers and Jean-Pierre Kruth
Figure 1 Produced parts by SLM
Figure 2 Operating principle of SLM process
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Laser
Mirror scanner
XY deflection
f-θ lens
Roll
Overflow
N2 atmosphere
Y parameters is studied with respect to density, surface
X
Feed container Z axis
Build cylinder
the same slice is scanned again before putting a new layer of
powder. This solution, named as laser re-melting, definitely
increases the production time, but on the other hand, it can
be the ultimate solution for applications where a density of
98 per cent is not sufficient. However, laser re-melting can also
be applied only to the top layers if it is only aimed to enhance the
surface quality and/or roughness. In this case, it is named as laser
surface re-melting (LSR) and the production time is not
significantly affected.
There has been extensive research in the field of laser surface
modification techniques, e.g. laser polishing, laser hardening and
laser surface melting, applied to bulk materials produced by
conventional manufacturing processes. Laser surface
modification can be applied to reduce surface roughness
(Wissenbach et al., 2006; Henari and Blau, 1995; Nicolas et al.,
1997; Triantafyllidis et al., 2005; Lamikiz et al., 2007; Ramos-
Grez and Bourell, 2004), or to improve other surface material
properties such as surface microhardness (Kac and Kusinski,
2004; Xianqing et al., 2007; Pinto et al., 2003), friction and wear
behavior (Zhang et al., 2008; Felgueroso et al., 2008), corrosion
resistance (Tang et al., 2004; Xu et al., 2006; Guozhi et al., 2007),
wettability (Hao and Lawrence, 2006; Lawrence and Li, 2001;
Triantafyllidis et al., 2005; Roemer et al., 2009) and sub-surface
microstructural properties (Grabowski et al., 2006).
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Rapid Prototyping Journal
Volume 17 · Number 5 · 2011 · 312 –327
However, those studies only relate to laser enhancement of
surface or sub-surface properties (up to a depth range of
hundreds of microns (Ukar et al., 2010)) of parts produced using
bulk material. They do not aim enhancement of core material
properties, nor surface enhancement of (rough) surfaces
produced in a powder metallurgical (PM) way by SLM.
On the other hand, it is possible to modify the material
properties throughout the depth of products by applying laser
re-melting during additive manufacturing after the generation
of each layer. In SLM, laser melting refers to melting of
powder particles to generate a 2D layer by selectively scanning
the laser beam over the powder bed. Therefore, the term “laser
re-melting” is used to refer to a second pass of the laser beam
for different purposes such as further material densification,
surface quality and microstructural enhancement of SLM
parts. In the field of additive manufacturing, not enough work
has been dedicated to laser re-melting except the studies
reported in (Morgan et al., 2002; Lamikiz et al., 2007).
Lamikiz et al. (2007) applies laser re-melting only on outer
surfaces of selectively laser sintered parts and deals with
surface quality improvement, whereas Morgan et al. (2002)
uses laser re-melting after each layer to release any entrapped
gas and to create a smooth surface finish to each layer.
Thus, the influence of laser re-melting is not thoroughly
explored yet in additive manufacturing in terms of different
improvement aspects, although laser surface modification of
bulk materials has been studied extensively by some
researchers.
Therefore, in this study, the potential of laser re-melting to
enhance the density and the core or surface quality of SLM
parts is investigated. The effect of changing process
roughness, microstructures and microhardness obtained by
laser re-melting after each layer or after LSR. This research is
carried out to cover the gap and analyze the advantages of
laser re-melting in the field of additive manufacturing.
2. Experimental procedure
In this study, two types of commonly used metal powders
were used:, i.e. AISI 316L stainless steel and Ti6Al4V. The
experiments with stainless steel were carried out on a Concept
Laser M3 Linear machine which employs an Nd:YAG laser
with a wavelength of 1,064 nm. The laser can be operated in
either Q-switched or continuous modes. In this work, laser
re-melting was conducted in the continuous mode (i.e. the
same mode as used for SLM) whereby the maximum laser
output power was approximately 100 W. It is possible to
adjust the laser spot diameter, F21/e to 53 and 133 mm (F99%,
respectively, 80 and 200 mm) by using an aperture, which also
changes the power. Ti6Al4V powder was processed on an
in-house developed LM machine at K.U.Leuven. The LM
machine employs an Yb:YAG fibre laser with a wavelength of
1,085 nm and can only be operated in continuous mode.
The maximum laser output power is about 300 W and the
standard beam diameter F21/e is 50 mm.
The surface roughness of the top surfaces was measured by
a surface profilometer (Taylor Hobson Form Talysurf 120L).
In this paper, the surface quality of the parts was mostly
expressed by the arithmetic mean surface roughness (Ra),
measured without a filter. The total height of the roughness
profile (Rt) and the surface roughness depth (Rz) were also
measured and follow the same trend as Ra.
 Influence of laser re-melting on density, surface quality and microstructure
Evren Yasa, Jan Deckers and Jean-Pierre Kruth
In this study, micro-Vickers hardness measurements were
done instead of macro- or nano-Vickers hardness
measurements. By not using a macro hardness tester
(HB, HRc, HRb), the measurements could be done relatively
close to each other, making it possible to investigate the change
of hardness of the SLM parts with depth. By not using the
Vickers nano-indenter, the measurements gave a more global
overview of the surrounding hardness. The measurements were
done by a Leitz/Durimet Vickers microhardness tester. For one
hardness measurement, a load of 1.94 N was applied for 30 s.
The resulting pyramidal indentation, whose dimensions are
related to the Vicker Pyramid Number [HV], was visualized on
a computer screen via a charge-coupled device camera and
manually measured by encasing it with a box. Eight hardness
measurements were done to calculate a mean hardness value.
Confidence intervals were also calculated, using a confidence
level of 95 per cent. To investigate the change of hardness of
the cross-section of one part as a function of depth, eight
hardness measurements were done at three different depths
as shown in Figure 3.
The microstructure of the parts made by SLM and
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subjected to laser re-melting was characterized with an optical
microscope and a scanning electron microscope (SEM) using
secondary electrons. Before making pictures with the SEM,
the parts were polished, etched and covered with a nano-layer
of carbon.
3. Experimental results and discussion
This section discusses the density (Section 3.1) and surface
quality (Section 3.2) improvements obtained after laser
re-melting experiments. Resulting hardness (Section 3.3)
and microstructural changes (Section 3.4) are also reported.
3.1 Density improvement
SLM of the stainless steel powder was always carried out
with the standard parameters optimized for maximum
density on the Concept Laser M3 Linear machine (island
scanning with a scan speed 380 mm/s, a laser power 105 W, a
scan spacing 125 mm and F99% spot size of 200 mm). After
SLM of each layer, the same slice was scanned with
re-melting parameters, which were changed for each test
specimen. In this work, the influence of laser re-melting
parameters such as scan spacing, scan speed, number of
re-melting scans or laser power was investigated while others
(spot size and scan strategy) were kept constant throughout
this set of laser re-melting experiments. A F99% spot size
Figure 3 Hardness measurements
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Rapid Prototyping Journal
Volume 17 · Number 5 · 2011 · 312 –327
of 200 mm was utilized together with a bi-directional scan
strategy with long scan vectors. With a spot size of 200 mm, a
pump current of 39 A corresponds to a laser power of 105 W,
whereas a pump current of 35 A corresponds to 85 W. The
scan spacing factor (a1) together with the spot size (dspot)
determines the scan spacing distance (s) between two
consecutive scan lines (s ¼ a1 £ dspot). In order to enhance
the density in the laser re-melting experiments, the scan
speed was changed in the range of 50-200 mm/s, whereas a
scan spacing factor was varied between 5 and 20 per cent
(a1 ¼ 0.05-0.2). The effect of the laser power was
investigated in the ranges of 85-105 W as well as two
different numbers of re-melting scans (1 or 3). All tested
parameters are given in the table in Figure 4.
Figure 5 shows an optical microscope image of the cross-
section of a part machined by SLM without any re-melting.
The black spots throughout the part are pores that were
created during the SLM process. They are homogeneously
distributed and can be formed due to several reasons such as
decrease in the solubility of the dissolved elements in the melt
pool during cooling and solidification and evaporation of
elements with a high vapor pressure (Rombouts, 2006).
Besides, those melting and solidification phenomena, high-
surface roughness can also cause low density: high-roughness
peaks and valleys that are formed after each layer can prevent
the coater depositing a new homogenous powder layer.
Moreover, the laser energy may be not enough to melt the
new layer completely since the thickness of the powder in
some regions will be higher because of the high-surface
roughness. Morgan et al. has already found that a rough
surface causes the entrapment of gas upon deposition of a new
powder layer. When the new layer is being scanned, the gas is
superheated and expands rapidly removing the liquid metal
above it, thus creating a pore (Rombouts, 2006).
The densities (or porosity) of the samples produced with no
re-melting (standard SLM parameters) and of samples
obtained by applying different laser re-melting parameters
after each SLM layer, were observed with an optical
microscope. First, the micrographs were converted to black
and white images using a constant threshold value. Then,
the ratio of the number of black pixels to the total number of
pixels was calculated giving the porosity. For every set
of parameters, at least three pictures taken at different
locations of the cross-section were observed. The average
porosities measured in this way are shown in Figure 4,
together with a confidence interval of 95 per cent.
Within the range applied in this study, higher re-melting
scan speed (200 mm/s) in combination with low laser power
(85 or 35 A) exhibits very-low-porosity values as shown in
tests from 1 to 4. Applying the re-melting three times
instead of 1 did not significantly change the porosity in this
low-energy input range (tests 2 and 3). As the energy input
was increased by decreasing the scan spacing and increasing
the number of re-melting scans at the same time (test 5),
a significant rise in the porosity occurred.
Figure 4 shows that all parameter sets applying laser
re-melting improves the density when compared to test case
with no re-melting (see the last bar). The average porosity of
parts with no re-melting is about 0.77 per cent, whereas the
densest re-melted part obtained with the second parameter set
has a porosity of 0.032 per cent which is almost 25 times less.
The optical microscope pictures of some parameter sets are
shown in Figures 6 and 7. The laser re-melting parameters for
 Influence of laser re-melting on density, surface quality and microstructure Rapid Prototyping Journal
Evren Yasa, Jan Deckers and Jean-Pierre Kruth Volume 17 · Number 5 · 2011 · 312 –327

Figure 4 Porosity results of laser re-melting after each SLM layer

Scan Scan
Diode # of re-
Test # speed spacing
current [A] melting
[mm/s] (a1)*
1 200 35 0.1 1
2 200 35 0.1 3
3 200 35 0.2 3
4 200 35 0.05 1
5 200 35 0.05 3
6 200 35 0.2 1
7 200 39 0.1 3
8 200 38 0.1 3
9 200 37 0.1 3
10 200 39 0.1 1
11 200 38 0.1 1
12 200 37 0.1 1
13 100 35 0.1 1
14 75 35 0.1 1
15 50 35 0.1 1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 SLM 16 SLM only - no re-melting
* Scan spacing = scan spacing factor (a1) × spot size
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these conditions worsened the density (compare tests 7 and 9

Figure 5 Cross-section of a part with no re-melting
Building axis
(a)
Building axis
(b)
Notes: (a) 4 × magnification; (b) 10 × magnification
each part are given under the image. In Figure 6, the parts
look almost fully dense which is also validated from
the porosity percentages shown on the right-top corners.
In Figure 7, the optical microscopy images of lower density
parts that were also exposed to laser re-melting are displayed.
Almost all parts with high-laser power (95-105 W or 37-39 A,
tests 7-11) or with low-scan speed (50-75 mm/s, tests 13-14),
i.e. high-energy settings, exhibited a higher porosity, greater
than 0.136 per cent. Applying multiple re-melting layers in
or tests 8 and 11 in Figure 4). However, when compared to
parts with no re-melting, laser re-melting still improved
the density significantly (three-five times). The effects
of process parameters (scan speed, scan spacing, number of
re-melting scans and laser power) on the density improvement
are separately shown in Figure 8. High porosity is mainly
related to too high-energy inputs into the substrate. When the
scan speed is increased, the remaining porosity decreases in
the range of 50-200 mm/s (Figure 8(a)). Very low-scan
400 µm spacing factor (5 per cent) results in higher porosity, whereas
there is no significant change between 10 and 20 per cent
(Figure 8(b)). The number of re-melting layers/scans is more
dependent on other parameters. It becomes important when
the selected laser power is high or there is high overlap
(Figure 8(c)). The effect of laser power is less significant
compared to other three process parameters in the range of
85-105 W (Figure 8(d)).
The experimental results of Ti6Al4V parts processed on
the LM machine also showed that laser re-melting
improves the density when sufficiently high-energy density
(Kruth et al., 2008) is applied during laser re-melting. To sum
up, the density of SLM parts could be greatly improved when
each layer was re-melted with low-energy settings
(low-laser power, relatively large-scan spacing, relatively
high-scan speed and single re-melting). This increases the
200 µm production time, however, to a lesser extent than if high
energy settings were to be used.
3.2 Surface quality improvement
Being one of the most important limitations of the SLM
process, the insufficient surface quality/smoothness can be
enhanced by employing a variety of surface modification
technologies that are available in the market. These include
mechanical (machining and abrasive sandblasting), chemical
(acid etching and oxidation) and thermal processes
(plasma spray) (Braga et al., 2007). Laser re-melting may be
a solution for smoothing the surface without removing the
part from the building platform, which avoids any fixation
errors with the current SLM equipment. In order to
investigate the potential to decrease the surface roughness

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 Influence of laser re-melting on density, surface quality and microstructure Rapid Prototyping Journal
Evren Yasa, Jan Deckers and Jean-Pierre Kruth Volume 17 · Number 5 · 2011 · 312 –327

Figure 6 Optical microscopy images of the laser re-melted parts with Figure 7 Optical microscopy images of the laser re-melted parts with
different parameters (porosity , 0.06 per cent) different parameters (porosity . 0.13 per cent)

1 0.052% 5 0.252%

200 µm 200 µm
35 A, 200 mm/s, a1 = 0.1, 1 layer 35 A, 200 mm/s, a1 = 0.05, 3 layers

2 0.032% 7 0.136%

200 µm 200 µm
35 A, 200 mm/s, a1 = 0.1, 3 layers 35 A, 200 mm/s, a1 = 0.1, 3 layers

3 0.043% 14 0.205%
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200 µm
200 µm 35 A, 200 mm/s, a1 = 0.1, 1 layer
35 A, 200 mm/s, a1 = 0.2, 3 layers

8 0.151%
6 0.036%

200 µm
200 µm 37 A, 200 mm/s, a1 = 0.1, 3 layers
35 A, 200 mm/s, a1 = 0.2, 1 layer

of SLM parts, LSR was applied on the top surfaces of

.
200 mm/s and 37 A (98 W).
produced samples.
.
200 mm/s and 35 A (86 W).
.
400 mm/s and 35 A (86 W).
3.2.1 Results obtained with stainless steel 316L
.
400 mm/s and 39 A (105 W).
The surface quality of the parts manufactured by SLM and
.
200 mm/s and 39 A (105 W).
then exposed to LSR exhibited a significant improvement Although these five settings gave similar roughness values as
resulting in a reduction of average and total roughness shown in Figure 9, lower laser power settings were preferred
(Ra and Rt) for all applied values of the laser re-melting because they induced less pronounced edge effect. The edge-
parameters. In order to quantify the improvement of the effect is further discussed in Section 3.2.3. The cross-sections
surface quality, roughness values of several parts which were of an SLM part with no LSR and a part with LSR
built by SLM with no LSR were first measured. The
(second parameter set: 200 mm/s, 98 W) were compared in
roughness results of SLM parts with and without LSR are
Figure 10, where the enhancement of the top surface by LSR
shown in Figure 9 for different combinations of scan speed
after SLM is evident.
and laser power at a constant scan spacing factor (a1 ¼ 0.1).
Higher scan spacing factors (0.4 and 0.7) were also tested
The lowest roughness results were obtained with medium
with the same laser power and scan speed ranges. Positioning
laser power and low-scan speed values, yielding an
improvement of about 90 per cent. The average Ra value for the scan lines far from each other or selecting very low-power
these parts was measured to be about 15 mm with a standard values during LSR deteriorated the surface quality possibly
deviation of 3 mm, while the average Rt value was about due to too little energy input into the material which was not
145 mm with a standard deviation of 23 mm (see the reference sufficient to melt the peaks and fill in the valleys completely.
solid line in Figure 9 for the average roughness, Ra). Besides, the formation of the recoil pressure generated at
As shown in Figure 9, the best reductions in the average higher energy densities pushes the melt towards the substrate
roughness (Ra) were achieved by the following combinations and this smoothes the surface resulting in a better surface
of scan speed and diode current (laser power): quality (Kruth et al., 2004).

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 Influence of laser re-melting on density, surface quality and microstructure Rapid Prototyping Journal
Evren Yasa, Jan Deckers and Jean-Pierre Kruth Volume 17 · Number 5 · 2011 · 312 –327

Figure 8 Effect of each process parameters on the remaining porosity

85 W, a1 = 0.1, one re-melting scan, big aperture 200 mm/s, 85W, three re-melting scans, big aperture
1.2 1.2
Porosity (%)

Porosity (%)
0.8 0.8

0.4 0.4

0 0
50 75 100 200 SLM with no 0.05 0.1 0.2 SLM with no
laser re-melting laser re-melting
Scan speed (mm/s) Scan spacing factor a1
(a) (b)
200 mm/s, a1= 0.1, onere-melting scan, big aperture
1.2 1.2
85 W, 200 mm/s, a1 = 0.1
85 W, 200 mm/s, a1 = 0.05
105 W, 200mm/s, a1 = 0.1
0.8
Porosity (%)

0.8
Porosity (%)
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0.4 0.4

0 0
1 3
SLM with no laser re- 85 95 100 105 SLM with no
melting laser re-melting
Number of re-melting scans
Laser power (W)
(c)
Notes: (a) Scan speed; (b) scan spacing; (c) number of re-melting scans; (d) laser power (d)

Figure 9 Roughness results of ten layers of LSR for a scan spacing of a scan speed of 225 mm/s (Figure 13(a)). Each of these last
0.1 £ spot size 20 layers was then exposed to laser re-melting with scan
vectors perpendicular to the scan vectors of the melting. For
Scan spacing factor (a1) = 0.1 for laser re-melting each part, a different combination of scan speed and laser
16 power was used for re-melting the 20 last layers, as shown in
50 mm/s Figure 11(a). The following scan speeds were used: 20, 80,
200 mm/s 320, 1,280 and 5,120 mm/s. Each of these scan speeds was
12
400 mm/s used in combination with the following laser power values: 16,
600 mm/s 32, 64, 128 and 256 W. On each part, three linear roughness
Ra [µm]

8 800 mm/s measurements were done in the direction of the re-melting

4
0 speeds together with roughness results of SLM parts with no
50 70 90
Laser power [W]
3.2.2 Results obtained with Ti6Al4V
As a first test with Ti6Al4V, 25 parts (10 £ 10 mm2) were
built to search which set of scan speed and laser power lowers
the surface roughness the most. The parts consisted of
70 consolidated layers with a thickness of 30 mm. The first
50 layers were scanned using scan spacing of 74 mm, laser
power of 40 W and scan speed of 800 mm/s to make a sort of
porous, sintered support structure. The last 20 layers were
first melted with standard SLM parameters optimized for
density: a scan spacing of 74 mm, a laser power of 40 W and
SLM only vectors. Figure 11(a) gives the average roughness (Ra) values
(and standard deviations), measured with a Gaussian filter
and a cut-off of 2.5 mm, whereas Figure 12(a) shows the same
average roughness results versus laser power at different scan
110 130 laser re-melting. The parts, which were re-melted with a very
low-laser power (, 80 W) or a very high-scan speed
(5,120 mm/s) exhibit high-roughness values comparable to
the one of SLM parts with no laser re-melting. The parts that
were made with scan speeds between 80 and 1,280 mm/s
and scan powers between 64 and 256 W have lower roughness
values compared to others (see dotted and filled area in
Figure 11(a)). Notice that settings of 20 mm/s should be
avoided, because it initially retards the build rate of the
SLM process.
The window giving low roughness values (80-1280 mm/s
and 64-256 W) were further investigated in an analogous
second test: see settings in Figure 11(b). In the second test,

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 Influence of laser re-melting on density, surface quality and microstructure Rapid Prototyping Journal
Evren Yasa, Jan Deckers and Jean-Pierre Kruth Volume 17 · Number 5 · 2011 · 312 –327

Figure 10 Surface quality enhancement with laser re-melting

Only SLM LSR: 200 mm/s, 37 A

200 µm 200 µm
Building axis Building axis
(a) (b)
Notes: (a) SLM-only part; (b) Laser re-melted part with 200 mm/s and 98W exhibiting a very smooth surface

Figure 11 Average roughness, Ra, of the Ti6Al4V experiments with the standard deviations expressed in micrometers regarding (a) first set of tests;
(b) second set of tests

Ra (µm) Ra (µm)
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256 6.9 (2.1) 4.2 (1.2) 4.3 (0.7) 6.4 (1.7) 17.3 (3.6) 256 6.8 (1.1) 7.3 (2.7) 2.9 (0.3) 5.1 (1.1)

128 5.9 (3.8) 5.7 (0.8) 3.6 (1.1) 6.6 (0.6) 14.6 (1.2) 181 6.7 (1.4) 5.6 (1.7) 3.7 (0.6) 4.7 (1.0)
P (W)
P (W)

64 17.6 (9.7) 7.6 (2.7) 6.8 (0.8) 12.3 (0.7) 14.0 (0.8) 128 4.2 (0.4) 4.7 (1.5) 4.8 (1.6) 6.1 (1.6)

32 9.7 (1.3) 13.7 (2.2) 14.3 (1.3) 14.5 (1.7) 12.6 (0.9) 91 4.1 (0.5) 5.1 (0.6) 5.8 (0.7) 5.7 (0.3) 7.8 (0.6)

16 13.8 (3.1) 16.5 (3.0) 16.9 (1.7) 14.7 (2.0) 12.3 (1.4) 64 4.9 (0.5) 5.1 (0.7) 6.1 (0.4) 7.0 (1.7) 11.5 (2.8)

20 80 320 1,280 5.120 80 160 320 640 1,280

V (mm/s) V (mm/s)
(a) (b)

three reference parts were made with the standard SLM
parameters (i.e. 40 W and 225 mm/s for the last 20 layers)
and not re-melted. The cross-section of one of these reference
parts is shown in Figure 13(a). The results are shown in
Figures 11(b) and 12(b). There is a significant improvement
in the roughness values when laser re-melting is applied either
with high-scan speed (640 mm/s) and high-laser power
(256 W) or medium scan speed (320 mm/s) and medium
laser power (128 W).
The flatness of the top surface was, however, affected by the
occurrence of edges that arise when the re-melted material is
partially pushed to the contours of the part by the laser beam
(Figure 13(b)). These edges, referred to as the “edge-effect”
by the authors, sometimes also occur in pure SLM parts,
but are generally larger if the parts are re-melted with
a relatively low-scan speed and high-laser power. To find
the power and scan speed that optimizes the given re-melting
process, an assessment between surface roughness and the
size of the edges is necessary. The combinations of scan power
and scan speed that gave the lowest roughness values with
acceptable edges is considered to lie in a diagonal band
as marked on Figure 11(b). The most preferable zone of this
diagonal band is the one with low-roughness values, low
edges and high-scan speeds (high productivity). The darker
the shading in Figure 11(b), the more preferable the
re-melting parameters.
To sum up, the smoothness of SLM parts could be greatly
improved by re-melting the outer surface. The best results
were obtained with relatively high-energy settings (high-laser
power, small-scan spacing, medium-scan speed, possibly
several re-melting scans). This adds to the production time,
yet to a limited extend since only the outer layer has to be
re-melted in this case.
3.2.3 Edge-effect
The possible reasons for the edge effect, also accompanying
SLM, are discussed further in (Yasa et al., 2009). In that
study, different process parameters and scanning strategies
were used to understand and combat the elevated edges
in SLM. As a result, the reason of elevated edges is given
as follows: during the SLM process, the first scan line of the
layer that is being scanned (part’s border) is surrounded
at both sides with powder particles with very low-thermal
conductivity. Owing to the change of shape of the melt pool in
most cases, more powder particles are dragged to the melt
volume thereby increasing the size of melt pool as well as
affecting the solidification rate of the melt. In addition,

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Evren Yasa, Jan Deckers and Jean-Pierre Kruth Volume 17 · Number 5 · 2011 · 312 –327

Figure 12 Average roughness plots of the Ti6Al4V experiments shown due to powder particles being dragged to the melt pool since
in Figure 11 no powder material is involved in laser-re-melting. If the
energy intensities are high enough, evaporation of material
25 occurs. However, the laser energy intensity is not high enough
20 mm/s
at the sides due to insufficient overlapping of successive scan
20 80 mm/s
tracks. As the material inside the contours starts to evaporate,
320 mm/s
the melted material is expelled towards the sides creating
Ra (um)

15 1,280 mm/s
5,120 mm/s an elevated edge. The cross-sectional view of an LSR sample
10 SLM with no LSR is shown in Figure 13(c). If the provided energy intensity in
LSR is not high enough for evaporation, only the melted
5 material being pushed in the sides and backward of scanning
direction causes the edges.
0
0 100 200 300
Laser power (W) 3.3 Microhardness
(a) The results of microhardness measurements for stainless steel
parts were shown in Figure 14 for different sets of scan speed
25 and laser power values. The measurements were taken on the
80 mm/s cross-section of the parts having a normal vector perpendicular
20 160 mm/s to the building axis at three different depths (Figure 3). One
320 mm/s
line of measurements was conducted close to the top surface at
Ra (um)

15 640 mm/s
a depth of approximately 100 mm, whereas the others were
1,280 mm/s
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10 taken at a depth of a 300-400 mm from the top surface

SLM with no LSR
(“middle line”) and bottom section at a distance of 100-
5 200 mm from the bottom of the part (“bottom line”). The
average results of eight measurements taken on one line with a
0 confidence interval of 95 per cent are shown in Figure 14 for
0 100 200 300
the three different positions, namely top, middle and bottom.
Laser power (W)
Almost all parts with LSR showed an increase in the
(b)
microhardness at the top line compared to a reference part
produced by only SLM part, the latter having a microhardness
Figure 13 (a) Support structure and melted structure of a reference values 223.8 ^ 7 HV, 218.7 ^ 7 HV and 216.7 ^ 9.5 HV at
part; (b) edges in 316L stainless steel with LSR; and (c) an SLM part the top, middle and bottom, respectively (Figure 14).
Figure 14(a) shows that the maximum enhancement in the
exposed to LSR in the middle region clearly showing the evaporation of
microhardness was achieved by the combination of highest
material
power (39 A giving a power of approximately 100 W) and
lowest scan speed (50 mm/s) which provided the highest
energy input per unit length to the part during laser re-
structure
Molten

melting, yielding microhardness values of 270.6 ^ 26.8 HV,

235.6 ^ 13 HV and 219.65 ^ 8 HV at top, middle and
bottom, respectively. Very little energy inputs obtained with
Support structure

a combination of a low-diode current, in other words low-

laser power, with a high-scan speed (400 and 800 mm/s) did
not change the microhardness values throughout the whole
cross-section (Figure 14(b)-(c)). For higher energy inputs, the
microhardness values decreased going from top line
measurements to bottom line measurements.
To sum up, LSR process increased the microhardness
(a) especially close to the top surface of the part provided that it
was applied with sufficiently high energy inputs. The higher
hardness encountered in the laser re-melted zone is attributed
to finer microstructure. In the microstructural analysis of the
No No laser re-melted parts (Section 3.4), it is observed that the
LSR LSR region LSR cellular/dendritic microstructure is more homogenous and has
a smaller cell size in the laser re-melted zone than the regions
which is built by SLM with no laser re-melting.

3.4 Microstructural analysis

(b)
an insufficient amount of powder remains for the subsequent
scans. The first track then acts as a heat sink when the second
is scanned, resulting in significant smaller track (Das, 2003;
Taylor, 2004). However, during LSR, the edges do not occur
(c) The top and cross-sectional views of an SLM part with no laser
melting taken with an optical microscope are shown in
Figures 15 and 16, respectively. The scan tracks are clearly
distinguishable and the direction of the laser scanning is shown
with the arrows in Figure 15. From the figure, the width of the
melted track was measured to be approximately 140 mm,

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Evren Yasa, Jan Deckers and Jean-Pierre Kruth Volume 17 · Number 5 · 2011 · 312 –327

Figure 14 Vickers microhardness results for SLM parts exposed to LSR

300 300
31 A – 50 mm/s 31 A – 400 mm/s
35 A – 50 mm/s 35 A – 400 mm/s
275 39 A – 50 mm/s 275 39 A – 400 mm/s
Only SLM Only SLM

250 250

225 225

200 200
Top Middle Bottom Top Middle Bottom
(a) (b)

300
31 A – 800 mm/s
35 A – 800 mm/s
39 A – 800 mm/s
275 Only SLM
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250

225

200
Top Middle Bottom
(c)
Notes: (a) With low scan speed (50 mm/s); (b) with medium scan speed (400 mm/s); (c) with high scan
speed (800 mm/s)

Figure 15 Top surface of an SLM part with no laser re-melting (polished and etched) with an optical microscope

µm

which was in good agreement with the scan spacing and spot size
values used during the experiments. In Figure 16, the cross-
sections of the melted scan tracks are visible showing that the
stainless steel powder particles were completely fused together
within melted and solidified zones having curved edges. The
laser tracks overlapped so that each melted track was bonded
onto the other tracks surrounding it. Figure 16 also shows that
during SLM a fully melted pool with a depth of about 80-90 mm
was formed which was significantly greater than the layer
thickness (30 mm).
SEM is also used for the analysis of smaller microstructural
features. Figure 17 shows the SEM image of the cross-section

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 Influence of laser re-melting on density, surface quality and microstructure
Evren Yasa, Jan Deckers and Jean-Pierre Kruth
Figure 16 Cross-section of an SLM part with no laser re-melting (polished and etched) with an optical microscope
Building axis
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Figure 17 SEM image of the cross-section of an SLM part with no laser re-melting
of an SLM part with no re-melting. A fine cellular/dendritic
structure exists, formed as a result of rapid solidification due
to very high-cooling rates encountered in SLM. However, it is
not homogenously visible throughout the cross-section of
SLM parts. This microstructure is also encountered in laser
welding of steels (Rombouts, 2006). Figure 17 also shows
spherical pores with different sizes formed during the SLM
process. The bigger hole is filled with epoxy particles during
grinding of the embedded sample surfaces in the preparation
stage before etching with an etchant called V2A-Beize
(200 ml distilled water, 200 ml HCl (32 per cent), 20 ml
HNO3 (65 per cent) and 0.6 ml Vogels Sparbeize) at 808C.
3.4.1 Laser re-melting after each layer
Figure 18 shows one of the samples treated with laser
re-melting after each SLM layer with the following
parameters: a scan speed of 200 mm/s, a diode current of
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Rapid Prototyping Journal
Volume 17 · Number 5 · 2011 · 312 –327
200 µm
38 A (,100 W), a spot size of 200 mm, a scan spacing of
20 mm and three times laser re-melting. The contour and its
connection with the core of the part is clearly distinguishable.
In the contour zone, the cross-sections of the melted scan
tracks are visible having curved edges. The lamellar structure
inside the part shows a smaller thickness than an SLM layer.
The thickness of visible layers in the optical microscopy
picture of this part was found to be around 20 mm whereas in
SLM one layer thickness was chosen to be 30 mm. This
distance between horizontal lines depends on the process
parameters of laser re-melting. For comparison, the optical
micrographs of laser re-melted parts with various process
parameters are shown in Figure 19 together with an SLM part
with no laser re-melting. The figure reveals that a higher
number of scans in laser re-melting leads to a significantly
finer lamellar structure.
 Influence of laser re-melting on density, surface quality and microstructure Rapid Prototyping Journal
Evren Yasa, Jan Deckers and Jean-Pierre Kruth Volume 17 · Number 5 · 2011 · 312 –327

Figure 18 Cross-section of a part with laser re-melting after each layer showing the contour scanning
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100 µm
Building
direction

Figure 19 Cross-sectional views of parts with different laser re-melting parameters applied after each layer together with an SLM part
with no re-melting

SLM with no re-melting 35 A, 200 mm/s, a1 = 10%, 1 scan

35 A, 200 mm/s, a1 = 10%, 3 scans 35 A, 200 mm/s, a1 = 5%, 1 scan

200 µm

35 A, 200 mm/s, a1 = 20%, 1 scan 35 A, 200 mm/s, a1 = 10%, 3 scans

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 Influence of laser re-melting on density, surface quality and microstructure
Evren Yasa, Jan Deckers and Jean-Pierre Kruth
When laser re-melting is applied, the layers are apparently seen
with borders of dark lines, whereas the layers are not
distinguishable in SLM parts with no laser re-melting whereby
only the borders of the melted scan tracks are visible (Figure 16).
The layers in laser re-melting are actually visible as horizontal
dark lines due to very low scan spacing (5-10 per cent). The
cross-section of multiple scan tracks that overlap significantly
appear as a line instead of curved melt lines which is also shown
in Figure 10. In Figure 19, the cross-sectional view of the part
which was re-melted with a scan spacing factor of 20 per cent
depicts less visible horizontal bands compared to the parts with a
scan spacing of 5 or 10 per cent. Owing to the reason that laser
re-melting efficiently improves the density of SLM parts by
removing pores formed between neighbouring melt pools in the
borders (see arrows in Figure 20), lamellar structures are desired
for improved density leading to better mechanical properties
and avoiding unexpected failures of SLM parts. SEM images
of two parts exposed to laser re-melting with different
parameters shown in Figure 21 clearly show the lamellar
structure where no irregular pore is present.
3.4.2 Laser surface re-melting (LSR)
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Some examples of SLM parts with LSR are shown in
Figures 20 and 21 with the parameters used for LSR.
When the last layer was subjected to multiple laser re-melting,
Figure 20 SEM image of an SLM part without laser re-melting showing pores between the melt pools
20 µm
Figure 21 SEM images of two SLM part with laser re-melting at different parameters showing almost full density
10 mm
(a)
Notes: (a) 35 A, 200 mm/s, a1 = 0.1, 1 scan; (b) 38 A, 200 mm/s, a1 = 0.1, 3 scans
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Volume 17 · Number 5 · 2011 · 312 –327
a re-melted zone was formed where the scan tracks of LSR
were clearly seen. The thickness of this zone highly depended
on the selected parameters, especially, the scan speed and
laser power. As the scan speed was decreased or laser power
was increased, the re-melted depth became significantly
higher. The scan spacing changed the overlap between
successive tracks, but the depth stayed almost constant as
evident from Figure 21, where two micrographs from two
samples re-melted exactly with same parameters, except the
scan spacing, are shown. Another important observation from
the micrographs of LSR parts was the densification of the
re-melted zone where a full density was achieved, in other
words, no pore was encountered.
The cellular/dendritic structure was also visible throughout
the re-melted zone. The cell-size was finer in parts with LSR
than the one of the parts with no laser re-melting. It was
equiaxed and homogenously visible throughout the re-melted
zone. The SEM images of a sample part are shown in
Figure 22, where the overlapping laser tracks in the re-melted
zone are clearly visualized with a cellular/dendritic
microstructure with a cell size smaller than 1 mm.
To sum up, laser re-melting often refined the
microstructure. LSR also assisted in elimination of pores in
the outer part surface (Figures 23 and 24).
10 mm
(b)
 Influence of laser re-melting on density, surface quality and microstructure Rapid Prototyping Journal
Evren Yasa, Jan Deckers and Jean-Pierre Kruth Volume 17 · Number 5 · 2011 · 312 –327

Figure 22 Cross-section of LSR parts with different parameter sets

Re-molten zone

200 µm
Building axis
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50 mm/s, 35A (85 W), a1 = 0.1, 10 layers

200 µm
Building axis

10 mm/s, 37A (95 W), a1 = 0.3, 10 layers

Building axis 200 µm

200 mm/s, 37A (95 W), a1 = 0.1, 10 layers

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Evren Yasa, Jan Deckers and Jean-Pierre Kruth Volume 17 · Number 5 · 2011 · 312 –327

Figure 23 Effect of the scan spacing factor on the re-melted depth

200 µm
Building axis
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200 mm/s, 35A (85 W), a1 = 0.3, 10 layers

200 µm
Building axis

200 mm/s, 35A (85 W), a1 = 0.5, 10 layers

Figure 24 SEM pictures of the LSR part with 200 mm/s, 39 A (105 W), a1 ¼ 0.1 and ten layers

(a) (b)
Notes: (a) Low magnification; (b) high magnification

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 Influence of laser re-melting on density, surface quality and microstructure
Evren Yasa, Jan Deckers and Jean-Pierre Kruth
4. Conclusions
SLM is an advantageous additive manufacturing process to
make functional three-dimensional prototypes, products and
tools with very complex geometries although it suffers from
1 to 2 per cent porosity and insufficient surface quality among
other limitations. In this work, laser re-melting was
experimentally studied in order to enhance the SLM
process. It is found that laser re-melting is a promising
method to increase the density of SLM parts to almost
100 per cent and to enhance the surface quality of about
90 per cent at a cost of longer production times. However,
the process parameters in laser re-melting affect the results
significantly, and therefore, should be selected properly.
When applied after each SLM layer to remove any pores
formed during SLM, laser re-melting can be an ultimate
solution for some applications where fatigue loading or
excellent strength with high ductility is necessary. For an
effective improvement in density, too high energy inputs to
the substrate should be avoided by not selecting very low-scan
spacing or scan speed values. In this manner, the additional
production time is kept to a minimum.
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Additionally, laser re-melting is an easy method to improve
the surface quality significantly (more than 90 per cent)
without removing the parts from the SLM machine and any
fixation errors when applied on top surfaces after the parts are
completely built by SLM. It can also be easily applied on the
inclined or curved surfaces after the surrounding powder is
blown away around the parts. With a few-basic software
changes to allow the movement of the building platform to
keep the laser beam in focus, it can be applied automatically.
For surface quality enhancement, the production time is not
necessarily affected since the laser re-melting is applied only
on the outer surfaces of the SLM parts. Surface quality
enhancement by laser re-melting also leads to a fully dense
shell around the part. Since surface porosity is known to affect
both the stress distribution and deformation of subsurface
layers leading to subsurface crack formation and propagation,
fully dense shell is especially important for applications
requiring high-wear resistance. Not only wear, but also other
surface properties, such as thermal and electrical conductivity
are highly dependent on the surface porosity.
The laser re-melting experiments applied on AISI 316L
parts also showed that microhardness was improved in the
laser re-melted zone if sufficiently high-energy densities were
provided, probably due to a fine-cell size encountered in the
microstructure.
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Corresponding author
Evren Yasa can be contacted at: evren.yasa@mech.kuleuven.
be
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