Use of support structure to fabricate high-aspect-ratio parts with minimal deformation by laser 3D printing

Weijie Xie; Hau-Chung Man; Chi Wai Chan

Abstract

It was reported by Expert Market Research that the global orthopaedic implant market was expected to increase from USD 55.8 billion in 2020 to USD 75 billion by 2026. Among the existing alloy options for orthopaedic implant, Ti alloys (e.g. Ti6Al4V) are most widely used because of its good combination of superior biocompatibility, good mechanical strength and corrosion resistance as well as light weight.

Laser 3D metal printing, generally referred to selective laser melting, is a deposition welding process that melt the powders layer by layer. It is believed as a leading advanced manufacturing technique to fabricate patient-specific implants for its high flexibility, high accuracy and high repeatability. However, there are a lot of process parameters such as powders size, laser power, scan speed, layer thickness and etc involved in laser 3D metal printing. The understanding of laser 3D metal printing is still limited.

Among the literature of fabricating Ti6Al4V by laser 3D printing, most of them study the low-aspect-ratio parts such as cubes and small discs although the orthopaedic implants are with high-aspect-ratio (such as bone plates and hip stem). The high-aspect-ratio parts are more prone to defects such as deformation because of the accumulation of residual stress. During printing, support structure is generally required to produce parts with complicated geometries to enable easy removal of parts and most importantly, to avoid the collapse of the overhang structure during construction. Yet the study on support structure is limited.

In this study, laser metal 3D printing was applied to produce a high-aspect-ratio Ti6Al4V part, which was directly built on the base plate (i.e. without support). However, sample deformation (i.e. warpage) was detected. To minimize sample deformation, “block+cone” support structure was applied to assist heat dissipation during printing process. Both of the samples were then analysed by XCT.

Original language	English
Publication status	Published - 15 Sept 2022
Event	The Northern Ireland Biomedical Engineering Society Symposium - University of Ulster, Belfast, United Kingdom Duration: 15 Sept 2022 → …

Conference

Conference	The Northern Ireland Biomedical Engineering Society Symposium
Country/Territory	United Kingdom
City	Belfast
Period	15/09/2022 → …

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Use of support structure to fabricate high-aspect-ratio parts with minimal deformation by laser 3D printing
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title = "Use of support structure to fabricate high-aspect-ratio parts with minimal deformation by laser 3D printing",

abstract = "It was reported by Expert Market Research that the global orthopaedic implant market was expected to increase from USD 55.8 billion in 2020 to USD 75 billion by 2026. Among the existing alloy options for orthopaedic implant, Ti alloys (e.g. Ti6Al4V) are most widely used because of its good combination of superior biocompatibility, good mechanical strength and corrosion resistance as well as light weight. Laser 3D metal printing, generally referred to selective laser melting, is a deposition welding process that melt the powders layer by layer. It is believed as a leading advanced manufacturing technique to fabricate patient-specific implants for its high flexibility, high accuracy and high repeatability. However, there are a lot of process parameters such as powders size, laser power, scan speed, layer thickness and etc involved in laser 3D metal printing. The understanding of laser 3D metal printing is still limited. Among the literature of fabricating Ti6Al4V by laser 3D printing, most of them study the low-aspect-ratio parts such as cubes and small discs although the orthopaedic implants are with high-aspect-ratio (such as bone plates and hip stem). The high-aspect-ratio parts are more prone to defects such as deformation because of the accumulation of residual stress. During printing, support structure is generally required to produce parts with complicated geometries to enable easy removal of parts and most importantly, to avoid the collapse of the overhang structure during construction. Yet the study on support structure is limited. In this study, laser metal 3D printing was applied to produce a high-aspect-ratio Ti6Al4V part, which was directly built on the base plate (i.e. without support). However, sample deformation (i.e. warpage) was detected. To minimize sample deformation, {\textquotedblleft}block+cone{\textquotedblright} support structure was applied to assist heat dissipation during printing process. Both of the samples were then analysed by XCT. ",

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AU - Man, Hau-Chung

AU - Chan, Chi Wai

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N2 - It was reported by Expert Market Research that the global orthopaedic implant market was expected to increase from USD 55.8 billion in 2020 to USD 75 billion by 2026. Among the existing alloy options for orthopaedic implant, Ti alloys (e.g. Ti6Al4V) are most widely used because of its good combination of superior biocompatibility, good mechanical strength and corrosion resistance as well as light weight. Laser 3D metal printing, generally referred to selective laser melting, is a deposition welding process that melt the powders layer by layer. It is believed as a leading advanced manufacturing technique to fabricate patient-specific implants for its high flexibility, high accuracy and high repeatability. However, there are a lot of process parameters such as powders size, laser power, scan speed, layer thickness and etc involved in laser 3D metal printing. The understanding of laser 3D metal printing is still limited. Among the literature of fabricating Ti6Al4V by laser 3D printing, most of them study the low-aspect-ratio parts such as cubes and small discs although the orthopaedic implants are with high-aspect-ratio (such as bone plates and hip stem). The high-aspect-ratio parts are more prone to defects such as deformation because of the accumulation of residual stress. During printing, support structure is generally required to produce parts with complicated geometries to enable easy removal of parts and most importantly, to avoid the collapse of the overhang structure during construction. Yet the study on support structure is limited. In this study, laser metal 3D printing was applied to produce a high-aspect-ratio Ti6Al4V part, which was directly built on the base plate (i.e. without support). However, sample deformation (i.e. warpage) was detected. To minimize sample deformation, “block+cone” support structure was applied to assist heat dissipation during printing process. Both of the samples were then analysed by XCT.

AB - It was reported by Expert Market Research that the global orthopaedic implant market was expected to increase from USD 55.8 billion in 2020 to USD 75 billion by 2026. Among the existing alloy options for orthopaedic implant, Ti alloys (e.g. Ti6Al4V) are most widely used because of its good combination of superior biocompatibility, good mechanical strength and corrosion resistance as well as light weight. Laser 3D metal printing, generally referred to selective laser melting, is a deposition welding process that melt the powders layer by layer. It is believed as a leading advanced manufacturing technique to fabricate patient-specific implants for its high flexibility, high accuracy and high repeatability. However, there are a lot of process parameters such as powders size, laser power, scan speed, layer thickness and etc involved in laser 3D metal printing. The understanding of laser 3D metal printing is still limited. Among the literature of fabricating Ti6Al4V by laser 3D printing, most of them study the low-aspect-ratio parts such as cubes and small discs although the orthopaedic implants are with high-aspect-ratio (such as bone plates and hip stem). The high-aspect-ratio parts are more prone to defects such as deformation because of the accumulation of residual stress. During printing, support structure is generally required to produce parts with complicated geometries to enable easy removal of parts and most importantly, to avoid the collapse of the overhang structure during construction. Yet the study on support structure is limited. In this study, laser metal 3D printing was applied to produce a high-aspect-ratio Ti6Al4V part, which was directly built on the base plate (i.e. without support). However, sample deformation (i.e. warpage) was detected. To minimize sample deformation, “block+cone” support structure was applied to assist heat dissipation during printing process. Both of the samples were then analysed by XCT.

M3 - Abstract

T2 - The Northern Ireland Biomedical Engineering Society Symposium

Y2 - 15 September 2022

ER -

Use of support structure to fabricate high-aspect-ratio parts with minimal deformation by laser 3D printing

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