Femtosecond laser processing of maraging steel fabricated by laser powder bed fusion

Recently, femtosecond (fs) lasers are finding increasing attention as a post-AM surface finishing process due to the minimal thermal effects and ability to fabricate submicron surface textures. In this manuscript, we investigate the effects of direct femtosecond laser processing (FLP) of surfaces produced by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF). Maraging steel 300 was used as the substrate material. FS laser experiments were performed on samples with different initial surface conditions including as-built LPBF and laser polished with continuous wave and pulsed lasers. The study focuses on the influence of process parameters such as laser pulse energy, scanning speed and number of scanning passes on the surface texture. The processed surfaces are analysed using confocal microscope and scanning electron microscopy. The results indicate that FLP of LPBF parts improve the surface finish and produce LIPSS features with a periodicity of 500 nm. The presence of spatter particles on the surface can be addressed through FLP process optimization and adoption of different scanning strategies for surface finishing and texturing.

Publication year:2021

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