Geometry Assurance of Laser Processed Metal Components
Doktorsavhandling, 2021

The manufacturing industry largely contributes to the global economy. How-ever, with the growing complexity of customer demands, stringent environmental norms, and requirements for shorter product development lead times, the industry continues to seek alternatives to address these challenges. Laser based manufacturing techniques are among the popular alternatives to address the challenges, mainly for their precision focusing abilities. Specifically, two laser assisted manufacturing techniques, namely the selective laser heat treatment of sheet metals and the selective laser melting of metal powders, have garnered attention for their ability to produce complex, and near net-shaped products that caters to the needs of industries such as the automotive and the aerospace industry.

 While great progress has been made in understanding their process capabilities, shortfalls remain in the area of geometric quality. Specifically, addressing the effect of local heating and local melting on geometric variation is scarce due to the novelty of the aforementioned manufacturing processes. As a result, the methods and tools in practice today may not be readily applicable to analyzing and minimizing the effect of local heating and local melting on geometric vari-ation. Thus, this thesis aims at developing knowledge to provide insights into the effect of the aforementioned manufacturing processes on geometric variation and, thereby, assist in establishing methods and tools for the geometry assurance process.

To this end, literature studies were performed to map the significant factors influencing geometric variation and a robust design framework was established as the first step. The focus was then focused towards analysing a set of factors that could be optimized in the early design stages. Specific to the selective laser heat treatment of boron steels, the effect of factors such as the laser heat treat-ment grid pattern dimension, laser heat treatment grid pattern position, and laser heat treatment scanning path sequence on geometric variation were analysed. Meanwhile, in the selective laser melting of 316L stainless steel powder, the effect of factors such as particle size distribution and powder layer thickness on geometric variation were analysed.

The results highlight the significance of considering the effect of the specified set of factors on geometric variation in the early product development stages and offer solutions to minimize the effect on geometric variation. Moreover, simulation techniques are presented that enable accurate decision making and demonstrate integration into the virtual product development setup. In summary, this thesis demonstrates the application of a robust design approach and the significance of considering geometry assurance in the product development process of laser processed metal components.

selective laser melting

Geometry assurance

geometric variation

selective laser heat treatment

robust design

Författare

Vaishak Ramesh Sagar

Chalmers, Industri- och materialvetenskap, Produktutveckling

Geometrical Variation from Selective Laser Heat Treatment of Boron Steels

Procedia CIRP,; Vol. Volume 75(2018)p. 409-414

Paper i proceeding

Influence of Selective Laser Heat Treatment Pattern Position on Geometrical Variation

Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering, Transactions of the ASME,; Vol. 141(2019)

Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift

Effect of selective laser heat treatment on geometrical variation in boron steel components: An experimental investigation

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture,; Vol. 235(2021)p. 54-64

Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift

A Robust Design Perspective on Factors Influencing Geometric Quality in Metal Additive Manufacturing

Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering, Transactions of the ASME,; Vol. 143(2021)

Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift

Ramesh Sagar, V. Lorin, S. Wärmefjord, K. and Söderberg, R. A Simulation Study on The Effect of Particle Size Distribution on The Printed Geometry in Selective Laser Melting

Ramesh Sagar, V. Lorin, S. Wärmefjord, K. and Söderberg, R. A Simulation Study on the Effect of Layer Thickness Variation on the Printed Geometry in Selective Laser Melting.

Ämneskategorier

Produktionsteknik, arbetsvetenskap och ergonomi

Annan maskinteknik

Övrig annan teknik

Styrkeområden

Produktion

ISBN

978-91-7905-495-3

Doktorsavhandlingar vid Chalmers tekniska högskola. Ny serie: 4962

Utgivare

Chalmers

Mer information

Senast uppdaterat

2022-01-18