Effects of laying angles on stainless steel fabricated by selective laser melting

This study aimed to investigate the effects of laying angles (0 degrees, 15 degrees, 30 degrees, 45 degrees, 60 degrees, 75 degrees and 90 degrees) on surface roughness, density behaviour, residual stress, and mechanical properties of 316L stainless steel components fabricated by selective laser melting. The findings revealed that the 15 degrees samples exhibited the best surface quality, while the 90 degrees samples had a roughness of up to 18 mu m due to the staircase effect and balling behaviour. The residual stress of the samples decreased gradually as the laying angle increased. The density of the 0 degrees samples reached 99.92%, whereas the 90 degrees samples were only 99.62%. The 90 degrees components exhibited a good tensile strength of 678 MPa, while the 0 degrees samples had lower tensile strength.