Fundamentals of selective laser melting of alloyed steel powders

The successful fabrication of dense iron-based parts by selective laser melting (SLM) is still limited to a narrow range of materials. This study aims at gaining an understanding of the effect of elements such as oxygen, carbon, silicon, titanium and copper on the quality of two-dimensional and three-dimensional iron-based objects. The results are related to the effect of the elements on physical phenomena such as laser absorption, heat transfer, wetting and spreading of the melt, oxidation, Rayleigh instability and Marangoni convection.