ABSTRACT
Additive manufacturing (AM) is a capable process to produce three-dimensional (3D) components from raw material and 3D design data. This layer-by-layer operating process has many advantages including high geometrical freedom to produce complex parts with reduced cost and applied especially in the aerospace, medical and automotive industry. One of the metal AM processes is selective laser melting. This technology is an effective manufacturing technique to build metallic and functional parts. Support structures are mandatory for selective laser melting; they ensure many technical functions such as increasing the ability to manufacture complex parts and play a role of heat sink to dissipate and facilitate heat transfer during fabrication, as well as support physically overhang surfaces. However, they must be frangible for the easy removal of fabricated part from the platform. Stainless steel 316L is receiving increased research attention for AM as it exhibits better corrosion resistance and stronger at elevated temperature, it can be used in heat exchangers, jet engine parts, valve, and pump parts. This research contributes to generate a full factorial design of experiment (DOE) for cone support, tree support, and different cellular supports structures manufactured with stainless steel 316L using selective laser melting for selected geometric control factors, then digital microscopy is used to allow the study of upper surface quality and see through the cross section to study deformation and afterward a removability evaluation of every sample from the platform is investigated.
