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A novel post-processing approach towards improving hole accuracy and surface integrity in laser powder bed fusion of IN625

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Abstract

Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) has been widely used to manufacture intricate geometries that would otherwise be costly to conventionally manufacture due to the complexity of design and the hard-to-machine nature of Ni-based superalloys such as IN625. However, the advantage of LPBF is opposed by the formation of high tensile residual stresses (RS), poor surface quality, and dimensional accuracy, which would require several post-processes to correct these drawbacks. This work evaluates the possibility of reducing the number of post-processing steps by using drilling to improve both the RS and geometrical accuracy of printed holes compared to the widely used post-process laser peening (LP). First, both conventional drilling and low-frequency vibration-assisted drilling (LF-VAD) were carried out on a printed plate with differently sized pilot holes, using a range of cutting parameters to determine the optimum cutting parameters. Next, the geometrical accuracy, surface roughness, microhardness, and in-depth RS were measured compared to as-built and LP holes. Drilling had the combined advantage of improving the hole accuracy compared to the undersized as-built holes, increasing the microhardness and inducing in-depth compressive RS. However, although LP induced high compressive RS, it had no beneficial effect on the geometric accuracy or surface roughness except the deeper depth of the compressive RS layer compared to the drilling process.

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Data availability

All the related data are available in the manuscript.

Abbreviations

AB:

As-built

AM:

Additive manufacturing

LF-VAD:

Low-frequency vibration-assisted drilling

LPBF:

Laser powder bed fusion

LP:

Laser peened

RS:

Residual stress

VAD:

Vibration-assisted drilling

A m :

Vibration amplitude (mm)

f :

Feed rate (mm/rev)

h :

Hatch spacing (mm)

N :

Cutting speed (rpm)

P :

Power (W)

t :

Layer thickness (mm)

v :

Scan speed (mm/s)

Φ pilot :

Pilot hole diameter (mm

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    Mohamed Balbaa & Mohamed Elbestawi

  2. Department of Mechanical Design and Production, Technical Research Center, Cairo, Egypt

    Ramy Hussein

  3. Curtiss Wright Surface Technologies - Metal Improvement Company, Livermore, CA, USA

    Lloyd Hackel

Authors
  1. Mohamed Balbaa
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  2. Ramy Hussein
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  3. Lloyd Hackel
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  4. Mohamed Elbestawi
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Contributions

Mohamed Balbaa: conceptualization, methodology, investigation, writing — original draft, writing — review and editing. Ramy Hussein: conceptualization, methodology, investigation, writing — original draft, writing — review and editing. Lloyd Hackel: methodology, writing — review and editing. Mohamed Elbestawi: supervision, writing — review and editing.

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Correspondence to Mohamed Balbaa or Mohamed Elbestawi.

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Balbaa, M., Hussein, R., Hackel, L. et al. A novel post-processing approach towards improving hole accuracy and surface integrity in laser powder bed fusion of IN625. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 119, 6225–6234 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-022-08725-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-022-08725-z

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