Surface enhancement of stainless-steel parts produced by LPBF through finishing treatments

Additive manufacturing (AM) technology has rapidly gained traction due to advances in AM processes, materials, and design research. Advantages of AM include improved ability to produce complex-shaped parts, operational flexibility, and shorter production times compared to conventional technologies. However, AM processes also suffer from some critical issues, such as low-quality surface and unsatisfactory mechanical performance. This is becoming increasingly important for medical applications where surface finish and roughness are critical. Therefore, various post-processing treatments are employed to enhance the surface quality of 3D-printed components. The present study, AISI 316L components fabricated via laser powder bed fusion were wire brush hammered with different numbers of passes: 5, 7, 10, and 15 passes. The surface quality was then examined by measuring roughness and microhardness. The results highlight the positive impact of this post-treatment on the surface quality. The surface roughness was significantly improved, decreasing by about 50%, from a starting roughness of 14 μm, attaining 6.5 μm after treatment. In addition, the microhardness increased significantly by about 102% from 202 Hv to 408 Hv. After 10 passes of wire brush hammering, the results stabilized, which means that the material reached a saturation point.