Surface roughness and densification correlation for direct metal laser sintering

The increasing use of metal additive manufacturing (AM) technologies, such as direct metal laser sintering (DMLS), requires an in-depth understanding of how the optimum DMLS process parameters can be determined to achieve the target properties, such as reduced defect densities and/or desired surface characteristics. To this end, it is important to develop simple strategies that assess part quality and are fast and cost-effective. In this study, the in-plane surface roughness of components fabricated with AM is correlated with the DMLS process parameters and fractional density, enabling rapid and accurate indirect determination of the fractional density of AM components through surface roughness measurements. To this end, two sets of DMLS process parameters and a geometrical parameter are utilized to fabricate more than 150 rectangular cubic samples with varying parameters. All the samples are fabricated using Ti-6Al-4 V powder, which is a frequently used metal alloy for DMLS. Second, two line roughness parameters are defined and measured for all the samples, and their correlations with the DMLS and geometrical parameters are reported. Third, the fractional densities of all the samples are measured and their correlations with the DMLS process parameters are demonstrated. Lastly, a thorough analysis of the observed correlations between the line roughness parameters and fractional density are discussed.