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

This study aimed to investigate the effects of laying angles (0°, 15°, 30°, 45°, 60°, 75° and 90°) 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° samples exhibited the best surface quality, while the 90° samples had a roughness of up to 18μm 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° samples reached 99.92%, whereas the 90° samples were only 99.62%. The 90° components exhibited a good tensile strength of 678 MPa, while the 0° samples had lower tensile strength.