Abstract
The selective laser sintering (SLS) of iron powder has been investigated through a number of experiments statistically planned as per Taguchi L8 design. Seven input parameters, namely, laser peak power density, laser pulse on-time, laser scan speed, stepping distance (distance traveled between pulses), interval–spot ratio (ratio of laser scan line interval and laser spot diameter), size range of iron powder particles, and powder layer thickness, were selected for the investigation. Density, porosity, and hardness were considered for the characterization of the sintered samples. Analysis of the results show that these properties are significantly affected by these factors. A discussion on the probable physical phenomena contributing to such dependence and an attempt towards the optimization of the process have also been included.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Ho HCH, Cheung WL, Gibson I (2002) Effects of graphite powder on the laser sintering behaviour of polycarbonate. Rapid Prototyping Journal 8:233–242
Zhu HH, Lu L, Fuh JYH (2003) Development and characterisation of direct laser sintering Cu-based metal powder. J Mater Process Technol 140:314–317
Steen WM (1998) Laser material processing, 2nd edn. Springer, London, UK
Das S, Fuesting TP, Danyo G, Brown LE, Beaman JJ, Bourell DL (2000) Direct laser fabrication of superalloy cermet abrasive turbine blade tips. Mater Des 21:63–73
Kathuria YP (1999) Microstructuring by selective laser sintering of metallic powder. Surf Coat Technol 116–119:643–647
Tolochko NK, Laoui T, Khlopkov Y, Mozzharov S, Titov V, Ignatiev M (2000) Absorptance of powder materials suitable for laser sintering. Rapid Prototyping J 6:155–161
Duley WW (1986) Laser surface treatment of metals. NATO-ASI Series (E) 115:3–15
Agarwala M, Bourell D, Beaman J, Marcus H, Barlow J (1995) Direct selective laser sintering of metals. Rapid Prototyping J 1:26–36
Bourell DL, Marcus HL, Barlow JW, Beaman JJ (1992) Selective laser sintering of metals and ceramics. Int J Powder Metall 28:369–381
Kumar S (2003) Selective laser sintering: a qualitative and objective approach. JOM 55:43–47
Pham DT, Dimov SS, Lacan F (2000) The RapidTool process: technical capabilities and applications. Proc Inst Mech Eng B 214:107–116
Niu HJ, Chang ITH (1999) Selective laser sintering of gas and water atomized high speed steel powders. Scripta Mater 41:25–30
Kathuria YP (2000) Metal rapid prototyping via a laser generating/selective sintering process. Proc Inst Mech Eng B 214:1–9
Schueren BVD, Kruth J-P (1995) Powder deposition in selective metal powder sintering. Rapid Prototyping J 1:23–31
Song Y (1997) Experimental study of the basic process mechanism for direct selective laser sintering of low-melting metallic powder. Ann CIRP 46:127–130
Williams JD, Deckard CR (1998) Advances in modeling the effects of selected parameters on the SLS process. Rapid Prototyping J 4:90–100
O’Neill W, Sutcliffe C J, Morgan R, Landsborough A, Hon KKB (1999) Investigation on multi-layer direct metal laser sintering of 316 L stainless steel powder beds. Ann CIRP 48:151–154
Abe F, Osakada K, Shiomi M, Uematsu K, Matsumoto M (2001) The manufacturing of hard tools from metallic powders by selective laser melting. J Mater Process Technol 111:210–213
Murali K, Chatterjee AN, Saha P, Palai R, Kumar S, Roy SK, Mishra PK, Roy Choudhury A (2003) Direct selective laser sintering of iron-graphite powder mixture. J Mater Process Technol 136:179–185
Simchi A, Pohl H (2003) Effects of laser sintering processing parameters on the microstructure and densification of iron powder. Mater Sci Eng A 359:119–128
Simchi A, Petzoldt F, Pohl H (2003) On the development of direct metal laser sintering for rapid tooling. J Mater Process Technol 141:319–328
Chatterjee AN, Saha P, Kumar S, Mishra PK, Roy Choudhury A (2003) An experimental design approach to selective laser sintering of low carbon steel. J Mater Process Technol 136:151–157
Dingal S, Pradhan TR, Sundar S, Roy Choudhury A, Roy SK (2004) Experimental investigation of selective laser sintering of iron powder by application of Taguchi method. In: Proceedings of the 2004 Laser Assisted Net Shape Engineering conference (LANE 2004), Erlangen, Germany, September 2004, pp 445–456
Miller D, Deckard C, Williams J (1997) Variable beam size SLS workstation and enhanced SLS model. Rapid Prototyping J 3:4–11
Hardro PJ, Wang J-H, Stucker BE (1999) Determining the parameter settings and capability of a rapid prototyping process. Int J Ind Eng—Theory 6:203–213
Yang H-J, Hwang P-J, Lee S-H (2002) A study on shrinkage compensation of the SLS process by using the Taguchi method. Int J Mach Tool Manu 42:1203–1212
Reddy TAJ, Kumar YR, Rao CSP (2006) Determination of optimum process parameters using Taguchi’s approach to improve the quality of SLS parts. In: Proceedings of the 17th IASTED International Conference on Modelling and Simulation (MS 2006), Montreal, Quebec, Canada, May 2006, pp 228–233
Dongdong G, Shen Y (2007) Effects of dispersion technique and component ratio on densification and microstructure of multi-component Cu-based metal powder in direct laser sintering. J Mater Process Technol 182:564–573
Kruth J-P, Froyen L, Kumar S, Rombouts M, Van Vaerenbergh J (2004) Study of laser-sinterability of iron-based powder mixture. In: Proceedings of the 10th European Forum on Rapid Prototyping, Paris, France, September 2004, pp S3–S8
Kruth J-P, Kumar S (2005) Statistical analysis of experimental parameters in selective laser sintering. Adv Eng Mater 7:750–755
Kumar S, Kruth J-P (2007) Effect of bronze infiltration into laser sintered metallic parts. Mater Design 28:400–407
Wang XC, Laoui T, Bonse J, Kruth J-P, Lauwers B, Froyen L (2002) Direct selective laser sintering of hard metal powders: experimental study and simulation. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 19:351–357
Childs THC, Hauser C, Taylor CM, Tontowi AE (2000) Simulation and experimental verification of crystalline polymer and direct metal selective laser sintering. In: Proceedings of the 11th Annual Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium, Austin, Texas, August 2000, pp 100–109
Dongdong G, Shen Y (2006) WC–Co particulate reinforcing Cu matrix composites produced by direct laser sintering. Mater Lett 60:3664–3668
Maeda K, Childs THC (2004) Laser sintering (SLS) of hard metal powders for abrasion resistant coatings. J Mater Process Technol 149:609–615
Kolosov S, Vansteenkiste G, Boudeau N, Gelin JC, Boillat E (2006) Homogeneity aspects in selective laser sintering (SLS). J Mater Process Technol 177:348–351
Simchi A (2006) Direct laser sintering of metal powders: mechanism, kinetics and microstructural features. Mater Sci Eng A 428:148–158
Zhu HH, Fuh JYH, Lu L (2007) The influence of powder apparent density on the density in direct laser-sintered metallic parts. Int J Mach Tool Manu 47:294–298
Kruth J-P, Froyen L, Van Vaerenbergh J, Mercelis P, Rombouts M, Lauwers B (2004) Selective laser melting of iron-based powder. J Mater Process Technol 149:616–622
Tan KH, Chua CK, Leong KF, Cheah CM, Cheang P, Abu Bakar MS, Cha SW (2003) Scaffold development using selective laser sintering of polyetheretherketone–hydroxyapatite biocomposite blends. Biomaterials 24:3115–3123
Chua CK, Leong KF, Tan KH, Wiria FE, Cheah CM (2004) Development of tissue scaffolds using selective laser sintering of polyvinyl alcohol/hydroxyapatite biocomposite for craniofacial and joint defects. J Mater Sci—Mater Med 15:1113–1121
Tan KH, Chua CK, Leong KF, Naing MW, Cheah CM (2005) Fabrication and characterisation of 3D polyetherketone/hydroxyapatite biocomposite scaffolds using laser sintering Proc Inst Mech Eng H 219:183–194
Naing MW, Chua CK, Leong KF, Wang Y (2005) Fabrication of customized scaffolds using computer aided design and rapid prototyping techniques. Rapid Prototyping J 11:249–259
Wiria FE, Leong KF, Chua CK, Liu Y (2007) Poly-ε-caprolatone/hydroxyapatite for tissue engineering scaffold fabrication using selective laser sintering. Acta Biomater 3:1–12
Wiria FE, Chua CK, Leong KF, Quah ZY, Chandrasekaran M, Lee MW (2007) Improved biocomposite development of poly(vinyl alcohol) and hydroxyapatite for tissue engineering scaffolds fabrication using selective laser sintering. J Mater Sci—Mater Med (in press)
Simpson RL, Wiria FE, Amis AA, Chua CK, Leong KF, Hansen UN, Chandrasekaran M, Lee MW (2007) Development of a 95/5 poly(L-lactide-co-glycolide)/hydroxylapatite and β-tricalcium phosphate scaffold as bone replacement material via selective laser sintering. J Biomed Mater Res B—Appl Biomater (in press)
Tan KH, Chua CK, Leong KF, Cheah CM, Gui WS, Tan WS, Wiria FE (2005) Selective laser sintering of biocompatible polymers for applications in issue engineering. Biomed Mater Eng 15:113–124
Leong KF, Chua CK, Gui WS, Verani (2006) Building porous biopolymeric microstructures for controlled drug delivery devices using selective laser sintering. Int J Adv Manuf Tech 31:483–489
Cheah CM, Leong KF, Chua CK, Low KH, Quek HS (2002) Characterization of microfeatures in selective laser sintered drug delivery devices. Proc Inst Mech Eng H 216(6):369–383
Leong KF, Wiria FE, Chua CK, Li SH (2007) Characterization of a poly-ε-caprolactone polymeric drug delivery device built by selective laser sintering. Biomed Mater Eng 17:147–157
Cochran WG, Cox GM (1992) Experimental designs, 2nd edn. Wiley, New York
Ross RJ (1989) Taguchi techniques for quality engineering. McGraw-Hill, New York
Ryan NE (1988) Taguchi methods and QFD: hows and whys for management. ASI Press, Dearborn, Michigan
Peace GS (1992) Taguchi methods: a hands-on approach. Addison-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts
Lenel FV (1980) Powder metallurgy—principles and applications. Metal Powder Industries Federation, Princeton, New Jersey
Svoboda J, Riedel H (1995) Quasi-equilibrium sintering for coupled grain-boundary and surface diffusion. Acta Mater 43:499–506
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Dingal, S., Pradhan, T.R., Sundar, J.K.S. et al. The application of Taguchi’s method in the experimental investigation of the laser sintering process. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 38, 904–914 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-007-1154-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-007-1154-1