Overview of LPBF parameters

Which parameters need to be chosen wisely in LPBF process?

Figure 1 provides a schematic overview of the important LPBF parameters. The LPBF parameters are divided into the following four categories:

1. Process parameters
2. Environment parameters
3. Material parameters
4. Part parameters

Figure 1: Overview of LPBF parameters.

Process parameters

The process parameters include:

• the scanning speed: the speed at which the laser beam moves,
• the laser power: in kilowatt or watt,
• the layer thickness: the thickness of each powder layer,
• the hatch spacing: the distance between two neighboring tracks,
• and etc.

Environment parameters

The environmental parameters include:

• the oxygen level inside the build chamber,
• the pressure of the atmosphere,
• the temperature,
• the gas flow characteristics,
• and etc.

Part parameters

The part parameters comprise:

• the part size,
• the bulkiness of the part,
• the downfacing areas,
• the orientation of the part,
• and etc.

Material parameters:

Finally, the material parameters cover:

• the melting temperature,
• the heat of fusion,
• the thermal conductivity,
• the powder properties,
• and etc.

Note that this is a non-exhaustive list. In reality, there are many more parameters that influence the melt pool formation. The ones listed here above are only an illustration of the most important parameters that we can understand and which we will discuss in the next steps.