Experimental study of residual stress in parts with variable cross section in selective laser melting process

One of the major challenges in the selective laser melting process is the generation of residual stresses in the processed parts. The residual stress can have detrimental effects on the dimensional accuracy, mechanical properties and performance of the part. In most industrial components, such as turbine blades, the cross section of the part changes along its length which can affect the amount of residual stress. The most important parameters of selective laser melting process include laser power, scanning speed, layer thickness and hatch spacing. These parameters are effective on the thermal profile created during the manufacturing process. Therefore, they can play an essential role in the formation of residual stresses in parts. In this paper, the effect of hatch spacing parameter on the residual stress magnitude of Inconel 625 samples with different cross sections has been investigated experimentally; so that the energy density does not exceed the appropriate range for the density of the samples. Using the non-destructive X-ray diffraction method, the residual stresses measured in the center of the sample surface and the intersection of the two variable sections of the samples. The results showed that the use of a larger hatch space significantly reduces the amount of residual stress. Also, the comparison of the amount of residual stress in the center of the surface of the lower and upper parts of the samples shows that the amount of residual stress in the interface between the two cross sections is reduced by almost half.