The Effect of Scanning Strategy On Mechanical Properties and Delamination During Brake Caliper Manufacturing With Selective Laser Melting (SLM)

Abstract

In the industry, additively manufactured components are becoming more prevalent. Rather than the growth in production of ordinary non-structural components by additive manufacturing, Additive manufacturing's increased safety-critical component production drives this prevalence. Thus, additive manufacturing of the braking system part, a vital subsystem in almost all vehicles, will help spread this manufacturing method. This study investigated the delamination issue noticed during the selective laser melting manufacture of the service brake caliper from 316L stainless steel. All process parameters were kept constant to investigate only the scanning strategy effect on the mechanical properties and delamination. On the samples, density-porosity measurements, tensile and hardness tests, and macrostructure examinations using an optical microscope were conducted. As a consequence of the studies, the chessboard scanning strategy exhibited superior mechanical properties over the stripe scanning strategy. The Chessboard method gave better results by 6% for measuring yield stress and by 12% for measuring Brinell hardness. The delamination was not entirely eliminated by the chessboard scanning strategy; however, it was noticed to be reduced in comparison to the stripe scanning strategy. Possible causes of delamination are discussed with microhardness measurements and optical microscope examinations.