Predictive process diagram for parameters selection in laser powder bed fusion to achieve high-density and low-cracking built parts

The laser powder bed fusion process (LPBF) has been widely used in many industrial sectors, including automotive, aerospace, and biomedical devices. With the fast development of new materials designed for critical applications, the conventional design of experiments for determining an optimal LPBF process window is a time and material-consuming activity. This can impose difficulties on small-to-medium industrial businesses where investing resources are limited. To address these challenges, this study draws inspiration from a reliable diagram used in laser welding to construct a similar diagram for the LPBF process. The objective is to enable the “right-first-time” selection of parameters that achieve a minimum of 99% density, regardless of the metallic materials and machine platforms. The diagram is established based on dimensionless beam power and velocity, derived from multiple LPBF process parameters (e.g., laser power, scan speed, hatch spacing) and the thermophysical properties of materials (e.g., melting point, density, thermal diffusivity). Furthermore, hot cracking susceptibility is considered by a strain-rate approach incorporated with the dimensionless thermal strain factor, which benefits when processing hard-to-weld alloys. The diagram shows high reliability in determining parameters corresponding to lack of fusion, keyhole porosity and 99% dense parts when plotting against literature data of LPBF for several metallic materials. Similar results were observed when applying to a novel material ABD-900AM Ni-based alloy, for which no previously published data were available. Moreover, the diagram proved effective in selecting parameters to process the high-cracking susceptible CM247LC Ni-based alloy, resulting in significant mitigation of hot cracking in the as-fabricated parts.