Influence of scale effect on surface morphology in laser powder bed fusion technology

Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) of multi-scaled structures is a prominent direction pursued by innovative designs and engineering applications. However, understanding the impact of scale effect on the effectiveness of actual structures is a pressing challenge. This work investigates the influence of structure scale on surface morphology and mechanical property by fabricating tensile samples with gauge diameters ranging from 0.2 mm to 5.0 mm. For the hatching scanning strategy, the surface roughness drastically reduces by ∼51% as the diameter increases. This appears to be the coupling results of heat accumulation, molten pool morphology at the end of single-track, overlap between multi-tracks within a layer, and successive rotational buildup between layers. Moreover, decreasing the diameter substantially reduces the tensile strength. Fortunately, a hatching-contour scanning strategy is proposed to eliminate the scale effect of surface morphology and strength. These efforts provide essential guidance for the broader application of multi-scaled structures.