Tensile properties of selective laser melting products affected by building orientation and energy density

Properties of a product fabricated using Selective Laser Melting (SLM) technology depend upon its building orientation as well as Energy Density (ED) used for its fabrication process. As ED is the key factor among all the process parameters in SLM technology, this study has focused on ED along with building orientation. Seven sets of EDs and four sets of building orientations for each set of ED were selected to investigate the dissimilarities among tensile properties as well as other properties of Ti-6Al-4V alloy specimens. The scanning speed was varied to set the different ED values as it influences the thermal characteristics of the molten pool more than the other processing parameters. Tensile strengths of the specimens have differed significantly with respect to building orientations as well as EDs. The tensile characteristics of the specimens have been explored by tensile testing and analyzed regarding metallurgical properties, which are density, porosity, defect, microstructure, and surface morphology. Specimens built in lengthwise vertical position and the energy density of 65 J/mm(3) have shown the best tensile properties in this study.