Process parameter dependencies of continuous and pulsed laser modes on surface polishing of additive manufactured aluminium AlSi10Mg parts

Laser powder bed fusion is a well-established 3D printing technique for metal alloys, but exhibits a poor surface quality. Laser polishing provides the possibility of a fast contact-free and fully-automatable surface treatment. This paper deals with the experimental investigation of laser polishing of laser powder bed fusion parts made of aluminium AlSi10Mg. Laser polishing is done with a 4 kW solid state disc laser in combination with a multi-axis system and a one dimensional scanner optic. The laser is operated at continuous and pulsed operation mode. The parameter study reveals a high dependency of the achievable roughness on the laser beam intensity, the track and pulse overlap, the energy density and the number of polishing passes and polishing directions. Pulsed laser polishing mode with up to four passes from different directions revealed the lowest surface roughness of 0.14 μm Ra. With respect to the initial average surface roughness of Ra = 8.03 μm a reduction of the surface roughness of greater than 98 % could be achieved. Polishing with continuous laser radiation at one polishing pass resulted in Ra = 0.23 μm at an area rate of 20 cm²/min. Laser polishing using four passes achieved a further improvement up to Ra = 0.14 μm.