Results in Engineering 15 (2022) 100473

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Results in Engineering
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Metal additive manufacturing by laser-powder bed fusion:Guidelines for

process optimisation
Muhannad Ahmed Obeidi
I-Form Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Additive manufacturing is growing rapidly in the last decades due to the significant development in the laser
Additive manufacturing (AM) technology and metal powder manufacturing. It offers a way to rapidly create near-net-shape engineered parts
Laser-powder bed fusion (L-PBF) starting from a digital CAD file without the need for dies or molding. It also offers the ability to manufacture parts
Selective laser
designed in a complex geometry and made of metals which are difficult to produce by using the traditional
Melting (SLM)
Metal 3D printing
methods. One of the main obstacles in Laser-Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF) for example is the dissimilarity in the
produced parts’ properties. The main reason behind this is the non-stationary nature due to the turbulence
formation above the melt-pool area accompanied by weld fumes, metal evaporation, plasma and sparks for­
mation. These effects increase within the individual printer as the fumes suspending and circulating with the
inert gas increasing with the time. Also, these effects differ from one printer to another depending on the build
chamber size and gas flow arrangement. This article is focused on exploring the (L-PBF) process in a step-by-step
principle and present it to the researchers, technicians and even manufacturers especially those who have novice
or lack of information about this technology. The study puts the main issues which must be considered and
learned in a successful Additive Manufacturing (AM) lab to produce a functioning metal part.

1. Introduction
The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) defines the
additive manufacturing (AM) process as “The process of joining mate­
rials to make parts or objects from 3D model data, usually layer upon
layer, as opposed to subtractive manufacturing methodologies” [1].
Additive manufacturing technologies encompasses a variety of AM
techniques and can be classified into seven main categories with
accordance to the materials used, the deposition of the build material or
the fusion (or cure) medium as shown in the following Fig. 1 [2–5].
In the recent years, metal part production using the L-PBF process
has advanced exponentially. The global AM market is estimated to reach
26.68 billion USD by 2027 [6] and the laser-powder bed fusion (L-PBF)
is the leading technology in the metal AM market [7]. This advanced AM
technology uses a high energy source to melt powder in a metallic
powder bed system. The process can be optimised such that parts have
excellent mechanical properties by melting the metal powder at selected
locations in the powder bed in a predefined manner according to the
supplied CAD design file [8–13]. The concept of manufacturing any
required structure from metal powder using a high energy laser beam
was first patented in 1973 by Ciraud [14]. In the L-PBF process, the CAD
model is sliced into thin layers at first and then each of the sliced layers
are micro-welded one layer over the other. This process continues until
the metal part according to the CAD file geometry is produced.
Powder bed fusion has been employed in multiple types of industry
like machine tooling, automotive, aerospace and biomedical [15–21].
This is due to many reasons which can be shortened but not limited to
the ability of processing all types of the printable metals, metal alloys,
and composite powders [22]. Several researchers reported the produc­
tion of AM parts made of different metals like the nickel alloys Haynes
HX, Inconel 718, Inconel 625 [23–25]. A comparison of the mechanical
properties of stainless steel parts printed on different machines was
studied and reported by Obeidi et al. [26,27]. More studies investigated
the mechanical performance of parts additively manufactured by L-PBF
and made from cobalt chromium, aluminium, and titanium alloys
[28–42].
This article is focused on the explanation and detailing of the L-PBF
in a step-by-step strategy aiming to simplify the process and make it
more understandable for engineering students, technicians, and
manufacturers.
The state of art in L-PBF:

E-mail address: muhannad.ahmedobeidi@dcu.ie.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rineng.2022.100473
Received 25 April 2022; Received in revised form 24 May 2022; Accepted 25 May 2022
Available online 7 July 2022
2590-1230/© 2022 The Author. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
M.A. Obeidi Results in Engineering 15 (2022) 100473

acquisition of the melt-pool temperature. The data obtained from these

Nomenclature devices can be in a video format showing the temperature evolution in
the case of the IR camera, or tables listing the temperature values versus
AM Additive manufacturing the (x,y) coordination on the build plate. The IR pyrometer is a high-
L-PBF Laser-powder bed fusion frequency device which detects the light reflected from the melt-pool
E-PBF Electron beam powder bed fusion in the infra-red range and record based on the intensity of the re­
SLM Selective laser melting flected light which is directly proportional to the temperature.
SLS Selective laser sintering Some of the major manufacturers of the L-PBF metal printers are
ASTM American society for testing and materials general electric (GE), 3D Systems/Phenix, EO Sint, SLM Solutions,
CAD Computer aided design Renishaw, Concept Laser, Realizer, and Aconity 3D.
ND:YAG neodymium-doped yttrium aluminium garnet
CNC Computer numerical control 2. Laser power bed fusion - the process
IR Inrfa-red
STL Standard Triangle Language This section will be focused on exploring the basic principles of the
3 MF 3D Manufacturing Format process as one of the most common technologies of additive
STEP Standard for the Exchange of Product Data manufacturing. The following Fig. 2 (a) and Table 1 show the main
Sa Average surface roughness features of the build chamber of a L-PBF printer. The model reflects the
VEDc, VEDp Volumetric energy density(continuous and pulse design arrangement of AconityMINI 3D metal printer which is manu­
mode) factured by Aconity 3D, Aachen, Germany [41]. The build chamber
RES Radio emission sensors (part no.8) dimensions are 300 × 650 × 80 mm and the maximum build
micro-CT Micro-computational tomography volume can reach up to 140 mm in diameter and 200 mm in height
at% Atomic percentage (build platform part no. 6).
The build process can be explained by the following steps (also video
of the process can be found in the supplementary documents):

i. Open the chamber lid (part no. 11)

ii. Lower the powder supply down (part no. 7) by means of the
machine controller
iii. Load the metal powder manually
iv. Install the build platform on its stage (part no. 6)
v. Deposit the first metal powder layer by using the manual mode on
the machine controller. Usually this is carried out by adjusting
the platform position accurately in the same level with the

Fig. 1. The main categories of additive manufacturing.

L-PBF process includes various technologies in which an engineered

part is translated from digital to physical (CAD to solid part). In general,
a laser system is equipped with the printer (i.e. neodymium-doped
yttrium aluminium garnet ND:YAG) of different maximum rated
power and transmitting the laser beam via a flexible optical fibre cable
to the moving optics axis of the machine. This axis carries the 3D scanner
(galvo) which holds high-speed moving lenses and mirrors assembly and
responsible for the laser beam movement and control. The build process
is performed in an inert gas conditions in which the gas is circulating
between the build chamber and a central filtration unit. Feedstock metal
powder is loaded in the powder reservoir of the printer then the chamber
is purged with an inert gas. Once a specific level of oxygen was achieved,
the laser beam can be triggered and build process can be initiated.
Manufacturers may produce these technologies in different models, each
model has specific build volume, fabrication rate (mm3/hr), printed
material range, positioning accuracy, laser type/capacity, and cost.
Some machines may include optional research additions like high-speed
cameras to capture the melting process, the raising of the surrounding
metal powder due to turbulence and the evaporation negative pressure
above the melt-pool area. Also, another research equipment may include Fig. 2. (a) Schematic diagram of the AconityMini build chamber [43], and (b)
an infra-red (IR) thermal camera or pyrometer for the real-time in-situ The blade powder re-coater mechanisms (left) and roller (right) [37].

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M.A. Obeidi
Table 1
Lists the main features inside a L-PBF 3D metal printer.
Part No. Details
1 Laser beam collimator and optics
2 3D scanner
3 Powder deposition and re-coater slider
4 Overflow powder collector
5 Argon gas stream
6 Build platform
7 Powder reservoir
8 Build chamber enclosure
9 Argon gas inlet elbow
10 Argon gas outlet
11 Build chamber lid
machine bed. Lower the platform down with a distance equals to
the required powder layer thickness. Move the powder re-coater
(part no. 3) on top of the powder supplier (7), lift the supplier up
to secure a sufficient amount of powder above the machine bed
and move the re-coater back on the platform side. Repeat this step
until a thin layer of the powder can be seen on the platform
surface.
vi. Re-assemble the chamber lid and start purging the chamber.
vii. When the purging reaches the rated level, trigger the laser beam
and start the fusion and build process. The CAD file preparation
and loading to the machine will be discussed in the following
sections. During the build process, the machine software interpret
the (x,y) coordination where the laser beam is required to melt
the powder in selected positions based on the CAD file slices,
hence the old name of the process Selected Laser Melting (SLM).
viii. The transition of the laser beam between these positions is carried
out by means of the 3D scanner (part no. 2).
ix. The laser beam power, the scanning speed, the powder layer
thickness and other processing parameters are adjusted to the
required values via the slicing software and the machine
controller (CNC). This process will be explained in the following
sections.
x. When the build process is finalised, the laser beam will be
terminated, machine stops automatically and the build chamber
can be de-purged and opened for the part removal.
The metal powder re-coater and deposition mechanisms can be
varied from one machine (or manufacturer) to another. Fig. 2 (b) shows
a comparison between the most two common mechanism designs, the
blade and the roller re-coater systems. The first type of mechanisms was
explained above and it is important to mention that the blade can be
manufactured from flexible rubber or hard plastic or metal like
aluminium or stainless steel. It can also be replaced by carbon fibre
brush if a high elevated temperatures are expected to be achieved during
the build process. The flexible rubber re-coater blade is necessary to
allow some deformation (up-lifts) of the resolidified material but may
fall off or get damaged when excessive deformation was resulted. The
hard material blade is more efficient to deposit more compressed pow­
der and reduce the gaps between the particles but on the other hand, it
can damage the build part or re-coater mechanism in the case of an
extreme part’s up-lift. The second type is the roller powder re-coater
which is a combination of a blade to spread the new powder layer on
the previously solidified layer and to be followed by the hard material
roller (metal or plastic). The advantage of this design is that high density
powder layers and AM parts can be produced due to the vertical
(compression) force applied in addition to the horizontal force required
for the translation, see Fig. 2 (b) (right). Orientation of the part with
reference to the re-coater movement or applying support structures must
be considered in order to avoid powder lose on the downstream (d) as
shown in Fig. 2 (b) (left) [42].
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Results in Engineering 15 (2022) 100473
3. Typical additive manufacturing lab
The main equipment which are expected to be (or required) in any
AM lab can be list as:
• A laptop/PC equipped with a CAD design software (i.e. Solidworks
product of Dassault Systems, Fusion360 product of Autodesk). This is
necessary to the generation of the design of the CAD model. Another
essential software to be installed on this PC is the slicing software
required for the preparation of the CAD model before loading it on
the machine.
• Metal powder storage. This is always preferred not to be the main
storage for this activity but a temporary or limited storage for the
powder being used at the time in order to avoid accidents like fire.
The storage is recommended to be a fire resistant, anti-static charge,
and sealed from humidity and moisture, see Fig. 3.
• Glovebox for the metal powder handling. Usually, powders are
supplied in containers of different capacities and could exceed 10 kg
which makes it difficult to load the powder directly to the build
chamber. Glovebox is usually used for transferring the metal powder
into smaller containers. Also, this procedure improves the conditions
of the powder from being stacked during export and storage and
enhance the powder deposition on the machined bed. Some glove­
boxes are designed to work in inert gas conditions and can be fed
with continuous gas stream to avoid oxidation and inflammation.
• Oxygen gas sensors for detecting the level of oxygen in the lab to
avoid suffocation in the case of an inert gas leakage. These sensors
are usually installed at approximately 80 cm height from the ground
level.
• Secured and continuous inert gas supply to the metal printer during
the entire process.
• Vacuum cleaners are essential during the part removal and powder
cleaning. A wet cleaner (filled with water) is normally used with
most powder metal types for an ideal trapping of powder particles
and isolating them from exposure to air. Dry vacuum must be used
with aluminium alloys since aluminium may release hydrogen when
exposed to water.
• Sieving system is required in different mesh sizes in order to control
the powder particle size range and also necessary for the removal of
any spattered particles, debris and scrab metals from the used pow­
ders for re-cycling and re-use. These spattered particles and debris
might be produced during the melting process especially in the case
of failed prints and transferred to the overflow container (part no. 4
in Fig. 2).
4. CAD model preparation
The part’s design is initially generated by means of a CAD software
like Solidworks. Once the design was accomplished, the CAD file can be
saved in a Standard Triangle Language (STL) format in the case of in­
dividual parts, and Additive Manufacturing (AM), 3D Manufacturing
Format (3 MF) or Standard for the Exchange of Product Data (STEP)
format in the case of multiple assembled parts. The new file format is
then prepared before loading it on the metal printer by slicing the model
into thin slices called the build layers. The build layer thickness can be
adjusted from few microns to couple of hundreds of microns. More de­
tails about the layer thickness value selection will be discussed in the
next section.
The software is also designed to apply pre-designed support struc­
tures for any overhanging, inclined or hollow features. These support
structures can be applied and edited as needed by adding or removing
support material, thinning or thickening the support walls in addition to
selection of support pattern type. An externally designed and customised
support structure can also be imported and employed in the build model.
The rule of thumb for the use of support structure during the build is that
they are required for surfaces inclined with an angle of less than 45◦
M.A. Obeidi
Fig. 3. AM lab showing the Aconity MINI 3D metal printer.
when printing with heavy materials (i.e. steel alloys, inconel, and cobalt
chromium) and 55◦ for lighter materials like (aluminum, titanium, and
magnesium). Printing without applying the support structure usually
produces rough down-skin surfaces as the inclination angle increases.
This is due to two main reasons, first, the lack of support of the molten
material which create waved surface after solidification, and second is
the high impact caused by the collapse of the laser photons on the
powder surface. The latter reason penetrates through the melt-pool to
the lower powder layers, increases the roughness to higher levels of >40
μm, in addition, it can cause the failure of the build part. Applying
support structures mitigate this problem significantly and promote
successful prints although a post process is necessary for cleaning and
polishing.
Some optimisation tasks can be done in order to be able to print
surfaces with smaller inclination angles without the need for support
structures and eliminate the consequent post processing and cleaning.
The following Fig. 4 shows a 316L SST part with a side angle of 35◦
printed with and without support structure in the second trial after
sieving the powder from maximum (D90) particle size of 80 μm–50 μm
and using smaller layer thickness, lower laser beam power and scanning
speed. The resulting down-skin surface quality (Sa) was in the range of
10–12 μm.
5. Scanning strategy
Another important factor in this software is the scanning strategy
which is a combination of several factors include (i) the scanning pattern
(or hatching type), (ii) hatch spacing, (iii) off-set (contour), (iv) hatching
starting angle and position, (v) hatch rotating angle per build layer, (vi)
and up and down skin. The following Fig. 5 shows the most commonly
used hatching strategies, the simple hatching in which the laser beam
scans the powder layer from one side to another. As a result of this type
of scanning strategy, a significant temperature gradient will exist due to
Fig. 4. Printing of an inclined surface (left) with, and (right) without support structure.
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Results in Engineering 15 (2022) 100473
the laser beam propagation always from one side to the other. This effect
is expected to be greater when printing larger parts and can lead to a
variant microstructure [44,45]. The later problem can be eliminated
when the alternate hatching shown in Fig. 5 (b) was employed. Stripe
hatching is also widely used in laser melting in which stripes of
controlled width are applied next to each other until the entire layer
surface was covered Fig. 5 (c). In the quad hatching, the build layer
surface is divided into a smaller squares of controlled dimensions. Each
portion is scanned in different direction to the adjacent quads. This kind
of hatching produces surfaces with different surface roughness similar to
the chess board due to the perpendicular scanning direction, see Fig. 5
(d) and (e).
In all the aforementioned scanning strategies, a hatch off-set and/or
a hatch rotation can be applied in the consecutive layers. Several studies
investigated the effect of the hatch angle rotation per layer on the
resulting mechanical properties and microstructure of AM parts
[46–51]. The researchers reported that the optimum angle of hatch
rotation between the layers is to be incremented by 67◦ per layer. With
this scenario, it was noted that a significant reduction in warping, de­
fects, and anisotropy can be achieved in addition to the improvised
surface roughness.
The hatch distance is the movement in which the laser beam off sets
between the consecutive laser scans. It is a very important process
parameter and has a direct effect on the volumetric energy density
(VED) applied on the material. Small hatching distances result in large
overlapping molten materials while large distances can be resulted in
lack of melting and trapping of un-melted powder particles, see Fig. 6
(a). The scanning strategy applied within a single layer and between
sequential layers affects the AM part’s density, surface roughness, and
the grain growth and orientation.
It is always recommended for the process optimisation, to print
single track lines by using variable factors levels especially the laser
beam power, the scanning speed, and the laser spot size [52]. From the
M.A. Obeidi Results in Engineering 15 (2022) 100473

Fig. 5. Different types of hatching strategy (a) simple, (b) alternating (c) stripe, (d) quad (chessboard), and (e) chess-board surface texture resulting from Scanning by
using the quad hatching, and (f) rotating hatch of 67◦ per build layer.

resulting weld track width and cross-sectional microscopic topology, the
optimum hatch spacing and other process parameters can be identified,
see Fig. 6 (b).
Finally, some metal printers are equipped with commercial slicing
software. The most commonly available software used for the AM part
file preparation in both industry and research are Magics (product of
Materialise), Netfabb (product of Autodesk), and Simufact (product of
Hexagon). Fig. 7 below shows the user interface of Netfabb with a part
being prepared for printing as an example and the main features of the
software. The preparation process starts by slicing the part in to the
required layer thickness, applying the scanning strategy as explained
previously and then the final stage is exporting the file in the proper
format. Metal printers accept several types of formats like (.ILT) or (.CLI,
Common Layer Interface). Once the file was loaded to the metal printer,
other processing parameters can be set on the machine CNC and the
printing process can be initiated.
6. Process parameters, volumetric energy density and operating
mode
There are more than one hundred processing parameters which
affect the process of additive manufacturing and the properties of the
produced parts [53–59]. Nevertheless, a scanning preliminary test is
important in order to identify the most significant process parameters
and their level of significance to use during the production of the parts.
Other processing parameters of less significance can be fixed to the
optimum levels which can be identified by carrying out an assessment
scanning test.
As a thermal process, (L-PBF) is directly affected by the following
processing parameters:
• Laser beam power (W)
• Scanning speed (mm/sec)
• Hatch spacing (mm)
• Metal powder layer thickness (mm)
• Laser beam spot size (mm)
• Scanning strategy

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M.A. Obeidi
Fig. 6. (a) Additively manufactured austenitic 316L SST part with internal
defects due to the lack of melting, and (b) a cross-section of a single line rpint
showing the build metal dimensions, depth penetration in the build platform,
and the suggested hatching distance [52].
It is very important to find a unique term which involves most of
these input processing parameters and employ it during the data anal­
ysis of the output measure (s) and also during the comparison of any
achievement with those from the literature. The volumetric energy
density (VEDc) can be calculated by using equation (1) below:
Laser ​ beam ​ power ​ (W)
VEDc ​ (J/mm3 ) =
Scanning ​ speed ​ (mm/sec) × ​ X ​ × ​ Y
where, (X), and (Y) can be any two of; laser spot size, hatch spacing, and
powder layer thickness (in mm), although it is most common to use the
last two variables to calculate VED. The volumetric energy density can
be regarded as an approximate comparison term but not an accurate
term to transfer the process parameters from one machine to another for
the reproduction of AM parts. Reproduction of engineering parts on
different printers is not expected to produce parts with similar properties
Results in Engineering 15 (2022) 100473
even if similar metal powder was used and from the same supplier. This
was reported in the literature and was explained by many reasons like
the differences in the build chamber and platform sizes, arrangement of
the build parts on the build platform and the circulation of the inert gas
as a cooling factor [25]. Moreover, a specific value of VED can be
resulted from multiple combinations of all four terms in eq. (1), e.g. a
part produced by applying high power and high scanning speed must
show different properties than that processed with lower values of the
same two parameters despite the same VED value. For this reason, there
are some limitations when using the volumetric energy density as a
design parameter for L-PBF.
Calculating the VEDp is based on the pulse energy when working
with the pulse operating mode as suggested by Repossini [60] in the
following equation (2):
T×P
VEDp = (2)
dh × dp × t
where T [μs] is the laser exposure time, P [W] is the laser power, dh [μm]
is the hatch distance (distance between two adjacent scan vectors), dp
[μm] is the point distance (distance between adjacent points along each
hatch), and t [μm] is the layer thickness. Obeidi et al. [52] suggested the
calculation of the VEDp by calculating the energy density of a singular
laser pulse and multiply by the number of pulses in a specific area.
Working with the pulse mode adds two new parameters, the frequency
(Hz, pulse/sec) and the modulation time (or pulse duration, sec). Some
machines replaces the modulation time by the duty cycle (%) in which
the modulation time is equal to the duty cycle divided by the frequency.
Fig. 8 below shows the main variables applied in the pulse operating
mode.
The layer thickness has a significant effect on the melt-pool tem­
perature during the entire build layer and then the resulting micro­
structure and mechanical properties as reported by Obeidi [26] and
shown in the following Fig. 9.
The three parts in Fig. 9 were produced by using the same processing
parameters except for the layer thickness of 30, 60, and 90 μm. It can be
noted that the temperature increases by increasing the layer thickness
which can be explained by the increased gaps and spaces between the
powder particles with the increase in the layer thickness. These gaps act
as insulators and hence impede the heat dissipation to the surrounding
material.
Setting the layer thickness to specific value is depending on several
variables. For example, the layer thickness is limited to the maximum
rated power of the laser system and whether or not it is able to melt this
thickness with accordance to the applied scanning speed. Also, the
smaller the layer thickness compared with the powder particle size
distribution, the more powder is being pushed away to the overflow
collector, part no. 4 in Fig. 2 (a). Therefore it is important to know the
particle size distribution (PSD) and adjust the layer thickness value so
that no or minimum amount of powder is falling in the overflow.
7. Process monitoring, in-situ infra-red pyrometers and thermal
cameras
For the process monitoring and quality control, it is important to
record any in-situ available data and analyse to correlate them with any
ex-situ measured data [61–65]. Examples of the available, in-situ data
(1) which can be captured during the build process are; infra-red (IR) for the
temperature profile (i.e. pyrometer), camera imaging (i.e. high-speed
camera), ultrasound, and radio emission sensors (RES). On the ex-situ
measures, the internal porosity can be measured and visualised in a
3D view by means of the non-destructive micro-CT scanning (examples
of manufacturers are General Electric GE, and Nikon). The parts’ density
can be measured by using the helium gas pycnometry or Archimedes
principle. The surface roughness and profile can be obtained by means of
3D microscopes such as Bruker, Keyence and Alicona, the dimensional
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M.A. Obeidi
Fig. 7. The preparation of a CAD model by slicing the layers and designing the scanning strategy by using Netfabb software prior to loading the file on the
metal printer.
Fig. 8. Schematic of a two consecutive laser pulses in two adjacent scan vectors
where τ is the pulse width or pulse period (=1/frequency) (sec), d is the pulse-
to-pulse distance (=scanning speed/frequency) (mm), p-p is the point to point
distance (=d × duty cycle) (mm), LO is the laser off distance which is the
distance between two consecutive pulses (=d – p-p), and HS and SS are the
hatch spacing and the laser spot size in (mm) respectively.
accuracy (i.e. CMM machines), mechanical properties (like hardness,
tensile and compression strength), microstructure and chemical phase
composition are measured by means of Secondary Electron Microscope
SEM and Energy Despersive X-ray EDX (i.e. Ziess, Oxford, Joel).
Pyrometers, for example, are used to monitor and record the IR data
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Results in Engineering 15 (2022) 100473
Fig. 9. The effect of the powder layer thickness on the melt-pool temperature.
The layer thicknesses employed are 30, 60, and 90 μm (left-to-right) [26].
via the reflected light from the melt-pool in the infra-red wavelength
range of 1500–1700 nano-meter. The intensity of this light is propor­
tional to the temperature. Normally, large file size must be expected for
the print of AM part (couple of gigabytes) and the data are stored in table
format for the temperature versus the coordination of each data point as
explained in section-1. These data can be presented and plotted by
means of any colour mapping software and maybe used to explain de­
fects in the Am part based on the coordination and build layer number.
Fig. 10 below for example shows the high elevated temperature resulted
at the corners of a cuboid geometry due to the short reflections of the
laser beam while lower temperatures were noted at the other corners
were there was enough time for the molten material to cool down.
M.A. Obeidi
Fig. 10. The melt-pool temperature profile obtained from the IR data.
According to the plotted temperature profile, the scanning strategy and
the hatching pattern was changed to be in the longitudinal direction to
avoid such implication. Parts with complex geometry can be divided
into multiple sub-parts in order to be scanned separately and properly.
The IR data can also be used to explain the granular microstructure of
an AM part and attribute it to the input processing parameters and the
part position on the build platform with reference to the inert gas inlet.
The following Fig. 11 (a, b, and c) shows the temperature profile across
an individual layer of a 3 × 3 × 3 mm cuboid build part, the entire build
part and the related microstructure respectively. As can be seen, the
significant variation in the temperature profile of up to 0.4 (normalised
scale) and the resulting cooling rates lead to a large variation in the
martensitic grain structure of the nitinol (Ni50–Ti50 at%) cubes.
8. The surface roughness profile
One of the main challenges in L-PBF technology is the poor surface
quality compared to the parts produced by using the traditional
methods. The high surface roughness is mainly caused by two reasons,
first is the partially melting (or sintering) of the surrounding powder
particles in a process called balling effect and the second is what is
known as the stair stepping effect. The latter effect is resulted when
printing any curved detail due to the shifting of the consecutive layers as
shown in Fig. 12. Unfortunately, both these scenarios are unavoidable,
they affect the dimensional accuracy and other mechanical properties
like fatigue strength and require post processing, like polishing [57,
66–71].
The above mentioned reasons for te surface roughness are common
in both laser and electron beam L-PBF technologies. Nevertheless, there
are other factors in which the produced surface roughness can be
affected like the powder particles size distribution (PSD), the metal
Fig. 11. Shows the temperature profile across a single build layer, (b) multiple build layer, and (c) grains microstructure.
8
Results in Engineering 15 (2022) 100473
powder layer thickness applied and the higher the layer thickness the
higher the resulting surface roughness. Also, the applied thermal energy
density and the residence time which are proportional with the applied
laser beam power, the scanning speed, and the beam spot size.
Surface polishing is essential for specific applications like automo­
tive, aerospace and biomedical where the lower valleys can be a stag­
nation spots in which the bad bacteria growth can be initiated and
causing the damage of the tissue and implant [67]. Also, some of the
sintered particles can be released during the work life-time of the part
and may reside in the blood stream of the human body or can be toxic.
Also, the produced surface geometry can negatively affect the fatigue
strength of the mechanical part [72–74].
Cleaning and polishing of AM parts is performed by ultrasound
baths, mechanical, electrochemical and laser polishing. Among these
technologies, laser polishing shows high surface quality, high repeat­
ability, reasonable processing time, and low cost. Also, there is no lost
material since the process is based on the re-melting of the high peaks
and relocate them at the lower valleys. Several researchers reported that
improvement of more than 80% in the surface roughness was achieved
after the CO2 laser polishing of SST parts and can be improved further by
applying multiple laser passes [57,66,67]. Fig. 13 below shows scanning
electron microscope (SEM) and optical images of additively manufac­
tured SST parts after a single pass CO2 laser polishing.
The only one limitation in this process is the difficulty in polishing
the internal surfaces and features as the laser beam require a clear and
open access to the processed material.
9. Metal powders and powder recycling
The metal powders available for additive manufacturing and 3D
printing include for example stainless steel, aluminium alloys, maraging
M.A. Obeidi Results in Engineering 15 (2022) 100473

Fig. 12. The two main reasons of the surface roughness of AM parts.

Fig. 13. Additively manufactured 316L stainless steel cylindrical samples polished by means of CO2 laser irradiation.

Fig. 14. (a) Metal powder production by gas atomisation, and (b) metal powder atomised by water (left) and inert gas (right).

9
M.A. Obeidi
steel, cobalt chromium, nitinol, Inconel and precious metals like gold.
The current available technologies in the metal powder production can
be represented in three methods. In all these methods, the metal ingots
are melted in a crucible at the top of a vertical furnace, then the molten
material pass through a nozzle before it is directly strike by a water
stream, inert gas, or plasma beam as shown in Fig. 14 (a). The solidified
material is converted into fine powder particles of a wide size range and
variant geometry. The powder particles produced by water jetting
exhibit acicular, elongated and irregular geometry making it difficult to
be employed in L-PBF due to the inconsistent deposition on the machine
bed. Gas and plasma powder atomisation are the best option, excellent
spherical geometry, and low oxide presence. The following Fig. 14 (b)
shows samples of metal powders produced by water and gas jetting as an
example.
During loading to the printer, build process, and handling, the metal
powder is exposed to oxidation and most important, laser beam irradi­
ation, partially melting and re-solidification. A significant amount of this
powder is unfused and can be reused even directly or after sieving, in­
spection and maybe mixed with fresh (virgin) powder in order to reduce
the cost of the manufactured part. The process of reusing the metal
powder require deeper consideration and in most cases is avoided in the
case of manufacturing biomedical implants in order to avoid the pro­
duction of contaminated implants. Several studies were carried out to
investigate the different effects on metal powders extracted from the
build chamber after multiple times of recycling [43,75–78]. The studies
reported that apart from the increase in porosity, the oxygen layer
thickness on the surface of the spattered powder particles after more
than 30 times of reuse of Ti–6Al–4V is less than 10 nm, not normally
distributed over the particles’ surface and that the main effect is limited
on colouration. Lutter et al. [78] reported sufficient build print by
mixing reused powder for several times and saving the production cost
significantly.
10. Advantages and limitations of L-PBF
From the aforementioned and the current state-of-art, the main ad­
vantages, and constrains/limitations of this technology are listed below:
Advantages:
• The process represents a robust solution for rapid prototyping since
the engineered part is manufactured from digital to physical and no
need for manufacturing dies and molding
• Any modifications on the design can be made instantly by modifying
the CAD file
• It is beneficial process for the manufacture of obsolete parts (cars,
machine tooling) which are not available from the manufacturer
anymore. A simple reverse-engineering process by 3D scanning or
measuring the defective part and creating the CAD file
• Complex geometry and thin sections which are difficult to be man­
ufactured by using the traditional processes can be manufactured by
using this technology. For example, sections of few hundreds of
microns thickness cannot overcome the loads and stresses generated
by a milling machine cutter but they can be produced by 3D printing
due to the negligible mechanical forces except for the thermal
stresses generated forces
• Metal and metal alloys like titanium and its alloys, cobalt chromium
and nickel based alloys (Inconel) are difficult to be machined due to
high wear resistance but can be processed using this technology
• No need for assembly and multiple parts can be designed and pro­
duced as one part.
• Uses the exact amount of materials needed to produce the part as
opposed to the traditional subtractive manufacturing. All excess
materials can be reused at most.
• Another great advantage is that the design model can be simulated
for testing the loads and stresses prior to manufacturing. This can be
carried out by using simulation software like ANSYS, ABAQUS, and
10
Results in Engineering 15 (2022) 100473
Solidworks. This modelling and simulation testing saves materials
since any extra materials can be removed, saves production time, and
reduce the weight of the AM part which is very important factor for
several industries like automotive, aerospace and biomedical.
• With the progress in the digital world in general and the 3D scanning
being portable in specific, the ability to scan parts, like biomedical
parts, the CAD file can be produced by 3D scanning the part of in­
terest where the patient is residing and send for manufacturing. This
facility provides great help to avoid moving patients who have
movement difficulties to attend the clinics where the scan is required
to be done.
Limitations:
• Build volume is still a real challenge especially with the technologies
using a closed build chamber like electron beam powder bed fusion
(E-PBF) and (L-PBF)
• Require high initial cost and high running skills in general. Only
trained persons can run the technology due to the health and safety
regulation when working with metal powders and lasers.
• Require post processing in general. These post processes are based on
the end use.
- Polishing can be carried out for applications require high surface
quality like biomedical and aerospace. Surface polishing can be done
by using different technics like mechanical, electrochemical, sand-
blasting (shot-peening), and laser polishing.
- Heat treatment for the residual stresses release and the consistence of
mechanical properties. The inconsistent mechanical properties is
mainly caused by the localised high thermal energy applied by the
laser beam and the temperature gradient with the surrounding
powder particles.
- Some of the post processing are necessary to remove the supporting
structure which can be simple and low-cost or difficult and compli­
cated process depending on the accessibility in removing these
structures. This implications in accessing and reducing the amount of
support structures and removing them can be enhanced by the re-
orientation of the build part and the direction to provide an ease of
access.
• Inconsistent parts’ properties printed by using the same process pa­
rameters but on different machines. For this reason, an optimisation
of the machine and process parameters by carrying out testing
samples (cubes or cylinders) prior to the actual print is essential for
some applications.
11. Conclusion
L-PBF, like most other additive manufacturing technologies, repre­
sents a robust success in laser assisted manufacturing technologies.
Nevertheless, it is not in the position to compete with the traditional
method when a mass production is required. Unless there is a reason
which impedes the part to be produced in traditional methods, like the
complex geometry, difficult to machine materials or multiple parts as­
sembly which can be reduced into one part, then die casting is the op­
timum option for mass production when possible. For example, a metal
pully can take hours to be manufactured by any AM technology but few
hundreds of pullys can be produced by using die casting in 1 h.
When a 3D metal printer was commissioned, it is always recom­
mended to carry out an assessment and optimisation test. This can be a
basic test but very important especially for unexperienced users of the
machine. The test can be designed to produce simple testing cubes of any
size (3–10 mm) and developed by using a statistical analysis method­
ology like the Design Expert and based on a full factorial or a Box
Behnken model. The most important processing parameters are to be
employed in this test in different levels and the aim will be to optimise a
specific output measure like the parts’ density, hardness, elastic
modulus, surface roughness, chemical composition or microstructure.
M.A. Obeidi
The statistical analysis and results from a brand new machines can be
used as an accurate reference and standard for the next printing tasks, to
compare these values with the manufacturer’s specifications, and also to
adopt them for a future maintenance, calibration, and repair. Similar
tests are necessary to be performed and archived on regular bases to
investigate the degradation of the laser system and the set of optics,
compare the measures with the reference values and an action is to be
taken when a serious problem was detected.
The optimisation of a L-PBF process is a very broad term and cannot
be identified by one variable or procedure to be followed. It is composed
of two main tasks. Firstly, a recipe which involves every single stage in
the preparation for the build process, and secondly, a researcher or a
manufacturer must indicate the property to be optimised. The first task
is only applied in order to achieve a successful build process with no or
minimised defects and to avoid any accidents or serious damage on the
property. The second task is focused on approaching the target repre­
sented by the chemical, mechanical, or physical property needed for the
end use. The chemical properties include for example the chemical
composition, phase formation, and corrosion resistance while the me­
chanical properties include the hardness, elastic modulus of elasticity,
density, microstructure and grain size, tensile and compression strength.
The physical properties includes the surface roughness, dimensional
accuracy, and colouration caused by oxidation and the high elevated
melt-pool temperatures.
11.1. Optimisation tasks prior to the build process
In this task, a smart consideration of the model design must be ob­
tained. The CAD file is to be generated based on an input information (i.
e. customer demands, reverse engineering on a damaged part, or a 3D
scan on a patient .etc.). The CAD model is then to be generated in a way
which suits the design requirements in addition to the machine speci­
fications and capabilities like the build volume and rated power of the
laser system. A validation of the digital part (CAD model) is to be carried
out by using a finite element analysis (FEA) simulation software to
analyse the forces applied and the resulting stress which must be within
the metal properties. The following step is the CAD file conversion to a
Standard Tessellation Language (.stl) file and testing the new meshed
file and fix and defects. The last step before loading the part to the
printer is to prepare the sliced part as explained in (section 4). It is very
important in this stage to decide the part build orientation which will
Fig. 15. The different stages of the CAD file preparation for Additive Manufacturing.
11
Results in Engineering 15 (2022) 100473
decide the number of layers required for the build, the processing time,
and most important is the amount of support structure and post cleaning
required.
Another action to be taken in this section is the metal powder and
particle size distribution is to be considered. Several testing can be
carried out to test the powder flowability for L-PBF machines, and the
particles geometry and size distribution. These characteristics controls
the powder deposition on the machine bed and build platform. The
particles size distribution (PSD) is highly related to the applied layer
thickness as explained formerly. Fig. 15 below shows the successive
tasks to be considered prior to the build process commissioning.
11.2. Optimisation tasks for the parts’ properties
The second task mentioned above is focused on the optimisation of
the produced part properties. It is important to accept the fact that it is
difficult to achieve the optimum values for all or most properties of an
AM part. AM is a thermal process and the part is being produced mainly
by fully melting (SLM) or partially melting as in selective laser sintering
(SLS) at the presence of inert gas circulation or vacuum condition as in
(E-PBF). The turbulence generated above the melt-pool, the negative
pressure associated with the metal evaporation, and the high cooling
rates have significant effect on the parts’ density and other properties. It
is an instant melting and re-solidification process. For this reason, the
optimisation of a part properties must be focused on one or fewer
properties based on experience or a pre-testing in which the input pa­
rameters can be optimised for that property. A following post processes
can be applied to modify and promote other properties to or near the
targeted values. In general, AM process is focused on optimising the
input process parameters towards high density values compared to the
cast and fully-dense parts because any pores content degrade all other
mechanical properties like the tensile, compression, fatigue, impact, and
corrosion resistance.
CRediT author statement
The sole author of the article
Muhannad Ahmed Obeidi: Conceptualization, Data curation,
Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology,
Project administration, Resources, Software, Supervision, Validation,
Visualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - review and editing.
M.A. Obeidi Results in Engineering 15 (2022) 100473

Declaration of competing interest [20] M. Andani, W.W. Anderson, M. Elahinia, Design, modeling and experimental
evalua- Tion of a minimally invasive cage for spinal fusion surgery utilizing super
elastic Nitinol Hinges, J. Intell. Mater. Syst. Struct. 26 (6) (2015), 631e8, https://
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial doi.org/10.1177/1045389X14541499.
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence [21] Y. Tang, et al., Corrosion behavior of a selective laser melted inconel 718 alloy in a
the work reported in this paper. 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution, J. Mater. Eng. Perform. (2021), https://doi.org/10.1007/
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[23] N. Jeyaprakash, C.H. Yang, K.R. Ramkumar, Microstructural, mechanical and wear
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number 16/RC/3872 and is co-funded under the European Regional
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lasers, Int. J. Adv. Manuf. Technol. 109 (3–4) (2020) 1059–1069, https://doi.org/
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi. 10.1007/s00170-020-05639-6.
[26] M. Ahmed Obeidi, S. Uí Mhurchadha, Alex Conway, D. Tormey, D. Brabazon,
org/10.1016/j.rineng.2022.100473.
Comparison of the porosity and mechanical performance of 316L stainless steel
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