Effects of shapes on the deformation of thin-walled artifacts manufactured by selective laser melting

Abstract In selective laser melting technology, the metal powder is subjected to a temperature gradient effect during the melting process, leading to uneven distribution of internal stress, and thus forming residual stress after cooling. At the same time, the high temperature gradient will cause complex changes in the shape of the parts. In this paper, the selective laser melting process is simulated for several typical thin-walled test artifacts to predict the residual stress, and the fabricated artifacts are measured to evaluate the shape deformation. The results show that the sharper the local corners of a part, the greater the residual stress within it, making it more prone to significant deformation. We show that we can suppress the deformation by changing the local shape of the artifact, such as substituting sharp corners with circular fillets, or replacing straight shapes with curved ones.