TY - JOUR A1 - Mohr, Gunther A1 - Altenburg, Simon A1 - Hilgenberg, Kai T1 - Effects of inter layer time and build height on resulting properties of 316L stainless steel processed by laser powder bed fusion JF - Additive manufacturing N2 - Laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) is the most prominent additive manufacturing (AM) technology for metal part production. Among the high number of factors influencing part quality and mechanical properties, the inter layer time (ILT) between iterative melting of volume elements in subsequent layers is almost completely unappreciated in the relevant literature on L-PBF. This study investigates the effect of ILT with respect to build height and under distinct levels of volumetric energy density (VED) using the example of 316L stainless steel. In-situ thermography is used to gather information on cooling conditions during the process, which is followed by an extensive metallographic analysis. Significant effects of ILT and build height on heat accumulation, sub-grain sizes, melt pool geometries and hardness are presented. Furthermore, the rise of defect densities can be attributed to a mutual interplay of build height and ILT. Hence, ILT has been identified as a crucial factor for L-PBF of real part components especially for those with small cross sections. KW - Laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) KW - Laser beam melting (LBM) KW - Selective laser melting (SLM) KW - Dwell-time KW - Thermography PY - 2020 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-503300 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addma.2020.101080 SN - 2214-8604 VL - 32 SP - 101080-1 EP - 101080-13 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam AN - OPUS4-50330 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mohr, Gunther A1 - Scheuschner, Nils A1 - Hilgenberg, Kai T1 - In situ heat accumulation by geometrical features obstructing heat flux and by reduced inter layer times in laser powder bed fusion of AISI 316L stainless steel JF - Procedia CIRP N2 - Material qualification for laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) processes are often based on results derived from additively manufactured (AM) bulk material or small density cubes, although it is well known that the part geometry has a tremendous influence on the heat flux and, therefore, on the thermal history of an AM component. This study shows experimentally the effect of simple geometrical obstructions to the heat flux on cooling behavior and solidification conditions of 316L stainless steel processed by L-PBF. Additionally, it respects two distinct inter layer times (ILT) as well as the build height of the parts. The cooling behavior of the parts is in-situ traced by infrared (IR) thermography during the built-up. The IR signals reveal significant differences in cooling conditions, which are correlated to differences in melt pool geometries. The acquired data and results can be used for validation of computational models and improvements of quality assurance. KW - Selective laser beam melting KW - Thermography KW - Melt pool depth KW - Inter layer time KW - Ppreheating temperature KW - Additive Manufacturing PY - 2020 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-512549 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2020.09.030 VL - 94 SP - 155 EP - 160 PB - Elsevier B.V. AN - OPUS4-51254 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mohr, Gunther A1 - Altenburg, Simon A1 - Hilgenberg, Kai T1 - On the limitations of small cubes as test coupons for process parameter optimization in laser powder bed fusion of metals JF - Journal of Laser Applications N2 - The capability to produce complexly and individually shaped metallic parts is one of the main advantages of the laser powder bed fusion (PBF LB/M) process. Development of material and machine specific process parameters is commonly based on results acquired from small cubic test coupons of about 10 mm edge length. Such cubes are usually used to conduct an optimization of process parameters to produce dense material. The parameters are then taken as the basis for the manufacturing of real part geometries. However, complex geometries go along with complex thermal histories during the manufacturing process, which can significantly differ from thermal conditions prevalent during the production of simply shaped test coupons. This may lead to unexpected and unpredicted local inhomogeneities of the microstructure and defect distribution in the final part and it is a root cause of reservations against the use of additive manufacturing for the production of safety relevant parts. In this study, the influence of changing thermal conditions on the resulting melt pool depth of 316L stainless steel specimens is demonstrated. A variation of thermo-graphically measured intrinsic preheating temperatures was triggered by an alteration of inter layer times and a variation of cross section areas of specimens for three distinct sets of process parameters. Correlations between the preheating temperature, the melt pool depth, and occurring defects were analyzed. The limited expressiveness of the results of small density cubes is revealed throughout the systematic investigation. Finally, a clear recommendation to consider thermal conditions in future process parameter optimizations is given. T2 - Icaleo 2023 CY - Chicago, IL, USA DA - 16.10.2023 KW - Additive manufacturing KW - Heat accumulation KW - Thermal history KW - In situ monitoring KW - Representative specimens KW - Thermography PY - 2023 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-586558 DO - https://doi.org/10.2351/7.0001080 SN - 1042-346X VL - 35 IS - 4 SP - 1 EP - 10 AN - OPUS4-58655 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mohr, Gunther A1 - Sommer, Konstantin A1 - Knobloch, Tim A1 - Altenburg, Simon A1 - Recknagel, Sebastian A1 - Bettge, Dirk A1 - Hilgenberg, Kai T1 - Process Induced Preheating in Laser Powder Bed Fusion Monitored by Thermography and Its Influence on the Microstructure of 316L Stainless Steel Parts JF - Metals N2 - Undetected and undesired microstructural variations in components produced by laser powder bed fusion are a major challenge, especially for safety-critical components. In this study, an in-depth analysis of the microstructural features of 316L specimens produced by laser powder bed fusion at different levels of volumetric energy density and different levels of inter layer time is reported. The study has been conducted on specimens with an application relevant build height (>100 mm). Furthermore, the evolution of the intrinsic preheating temperature during the build-up of specimens was monitored using a thermographic in-situ monitoring set-up. By applying recently determined emissivity values of 316L powder layers, real temperatures could be quantified. Heat accumulation led to preheating temperatures of up to about 600 °C. Significant differences in the preheating temperatures were discussed with respect to the individual process parameter combinations, including the build height. A strong effect of the inter layer time on the heat accumulation was observed. A shorter inter layer time resulted in an increase of the preheating temperature by more than a factor of 2 in the upper part of the specimens compared to longer inter layer times. This, in turn, resulted in heterogeneity of the microstructure and differences in material properties within individual specimens. The resulting differences in the microstructure were analyzed using electron back scatter diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. Results from chemical analysis as well as electron back scatter diffraction measurements indicated stable conditions in terms of chemical alloy composition and austenite phase content for the used set of parameter combinations. However, an increase of the average grain size by more than a factor of 2.5 could be revealed within individual specimens. Additionally, differences in feature size of the solidification cellular substructure were examined and a trend of increasing cell sizes was observed. This trend was attributed to differences in solidification rate and thermal gradients induced by differences in scanning velocity and preheating temperature. A change of the thermal history due to intrinsic preheating could be identified as the main cause of this heterogeneity. It was induced by critical combinations of the energy input and differences in heat transfer conditions by variations of the inter layer time. The microstructural variations were directly correlated to differences in hardness. KW - Additive manufacturing KW - Laser powder bed fusion KW - In-situ process monitoring KW - Thermography KW - Heat accumulation KW - Inter layer time KW - Cellular substructure PY - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-529240 DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/met11071063 VL - 11 IS - 7 SP - 1063 PB - MDPI CY - Basel, Schweiz AN - OPUS4-52924 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Altenburg, Simon A1 - Scheuschner, Nils A1 - Maierhofer, Christiane A1 - Mohr, Gunther A1 - Hilgenberg, Kai T1 - Thermography in laser powder bed fusion of metals: time over threshold as feasible feature in thermographic data T2 - Proceedings of Conference QIRT 2020 N2 - Thermography is one on the most promising techniques for in-situ monitoring of metal additive manufacturing processes. Especially in laser powder bed fusion processes, the high process dynamics and the strong focus of the laser beam cause a very complex thermal history within the produced specimens, such as multiple heating cycles within single layer expositions. This complicates data interpretation, e.g., in terms of cooling rates. A quantity that is easily calculated is the time a specific area of the specimen is at a temperature above a chosen threshold value (TOT). Here, we discuss variations occurring in time-over-threshold-maps during manufacturing of an almost defect free cuboid specimen. T2 - 15th Quantitative InfraRed Thermography conference CY - Online meeting DA - 21.09.2020 KW - Additive Manufacturing KW - Process monitoring KW - Thermography KW - L-PBF KW - Time over threshold PY - 2020 DO - https://doi.org/10.21611/qirt.2020.005 SP - 1 EP - 5 PB - QIRT Council CY - Quebec, Canada AN - OPUS4-52014 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -