Developing a device for manufacturing by selective laser melting method and investigating process parameters effects

Selective laser melting method is one of the powder bed applications. By this method, it is possible to manufacture three dimensional metal parts directly. In this thesis, a device for manufacturing by selective laser melting method has been developed. Experimental studies has been carried out to determine effects of basic process parameters on produced samples.Equivalent to Stellite-12 powder was used in the experiments. The powder materials were characterized by XRD. Experimental studies were performed considering the most important process parameters such as laser power output, laser scanning speed, laser frequency, laser scanning route and layer thickness. The parts which produced using 243 combinations were examined by optical and SEM microscope. Image processing analysis based on the code which is developed in MATLAB has been performed to compare the effects of process parameters on porosity rates. As a result , it was reached to %0.6 porosity rate . This is very promising results for producibility of three dimensional metallic parts using Stellite-12 powders by laser selective melting method.