Laser Powder-Bed Fusion (L-PBF) is one of the most used Additive Manufacturing technologies for metals. The high degree of freedom in part design and the possibility for functional integration make this process suitable for the production of e.g. medical devices. However, the utilization of additive manufacturing for metals has yet to be explored in analytical instruments or gas measurement systems that prioritize surface and chemical inertness. In the event that L-PBF is to be utilized in novel domains, it is imperative that components adhere strictly to all stipulated criteria. Chemically inert metals like stainless steel 316L are of particular interest for gas measuring applications including exhaled breath analysis, but especially warping and geometrical inaccuracies of additively manufactured 316L parts inhibit the adoption for accessory fabrication. Support structures are considered as an inefficient waste of material increasing post-processing efforts, but they are one design feature to achieve high part quality by e.g. warping reduction. This study analyzes properties of cube samples and gas-carrying parts to gain insights into the influence of the support structure wall thickness and resulting quality. The portion of supported downskin surfaces is introduced after cross-section area calculations to give a transferable measure that is compared to other support strategies of other materials in literature. Especially roughness and geometrical accuracy of gas-carrying parts formed a foundation to select the best support structure compromise between saving material and achieving high part quality. As a result, trends are documented of increasing supported area portions are transferred to gas-carrying parts. There, 49% of supported part surface or 0.4 mm thick walls of block support structures,respectively, mark the best compromise between material efficiency and part quality. This gas-carrying part has the highest degree of geometrical accuracy in a horizontal build orientation of 0°.
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