During Selective Laser Melting, powder layers are successively applied to be locally melted by the laser beam to produce parts layer by layer. Using this technique, complex structures are possible to manufacture. Within the layers tracks are produced by locally melting the powder and attaching the melt to the structure. It is usually expected that the tracks show a certain but constant height before applying the next powder layer. In this work, several tracks within one layer were produced at varied hatch distances. It was observed that the built-up layer height and layer shape significantly depend on the hatch distance due to surface tension effects in combination with extensive re-melting of material of the already processed structure. This effect can lead to changed conditions like varying powder heights in the consecutively applied powder layer or even to a varying precision of the produced part.
Finansiär: eit raw materials