Qualification procedures for additive manufacturing processes are not only segmented by process type but also by equipment manufacturer. Within laser powder bed fusion there are many different machine manufacturers, and each manufacturer has unique processing parameters that are used for a specific alloy. These varying process parameters can yield different microstructure and defect populations - features which are directly tied to process/ material qualification. In this work, 316L stainless steel plates are fabricated using 4 different laser powder bed fusion (PBF) additive manufacturing platforms, all of which use different processing parameters and have slight differences in machine technology. Tensile and metallography coupons are extracted from the plates. The microstructure and porosity are characterized for each set of machine manufacturer and processing parameter set. Tensile testing is performed to determine the influence of the processing parameters, microstructure, and defects on the static mechanical properties. The characterization and testing results from this work will be applied towards a data driven qualification approach. Data driven qualification will reduce the amount of work and overall data burden that needs to be repeated for qualification on the new machine allowing for wider adoption of AM.
Learning Objectives:
- Upon completion, participants will be able to describe the unique challenges for AM process/material qualification
- Upon completion, participants will be able to describe the opportunities to use data driven approaches to improve the qualification process for AM
