Measuring Porosity in Ti-6Al-4V Laser Powder Bed Fusion Samples

Abstract

Accurate characterization and prediction of porosity defects in laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) has great potential in improving the structural integrity and durability of the additive manufactured metallic parts. In previous research by Dr. Jerard Gordon, a predictive model for lack of fusion (LOF) and keyhole defect formation in Ti-6Al-4V LPBF parts under different printing laser power and speed was developed. This project builds upon Dr. Gordon’s research and aims to validate the model by printing 16 samples in the TRUMPF TruPrint 1000 under different laser settings ranging from 60 W to 120 W in power and 0.1 to 0.75 m/s in velocity. The experimentally obtained porosities show a positive correlation with the predicted lack of fusion criteria despite not being a strong linear relationship. Overall, this study shows how changing the LPBF printing parameters can affect porosity formation in printed parts.