Effect of Laser Parameters on the Vibrational Characteristics of Alsi10mg Parts Produced Using Selective Laser Melting (SLM)
S.M.H. Gowda, M. Karthick, S.K. Niketh, M.A. Kanagil, V.L.J. Guptha, A. Bharatish and R.S. Sharma
AlSi10Mg aluminium alloy is mostly produced using selective laser melting (SLM) technique which is widely adopted in automotive and aerospace heat exchangers. Along with mechanical performance, vibrational behavior of selective laser melted parts becomes a paramount to enhance the part quality and repeatability of the process. This paper investigates the effect of SLM process parameters on the vibrational behavior of AlSi10Mg to enhance the damping capacity. The range for laser power, scanning speed, hatch spacing were selected as 290 to 370 W, 1.0 to 2.2 m/s and 50 to 150 μm, respectively. The vibrational characteristics such as natural frequency and modal damping were measured using fast Fourier transform (FFT) analyser and were compared with numerical analyses. Regression models were developed using response surface methodology (RSM). The natural frequency and damping were affected mostly by the scan speed. Based on the results obtained, a maximum modal damping of 1.0348% was achieved at 290 W laser power, 2.2 m/s scan speed and 150 μm hatch spacing.
Keywords: Fibre laser, aluminium alloy, AlSi10Mg, selective laser melting (SLM), laser operating parameters, natural frequency, damping, vibrational characteristics, fast Fourier transform (FFT), optimization