Selective laser melting of crack-free Fe-based bulk metallic glass via chessboard scanning strategy

[Display omitted] •Crack formation mechanism and solutions of Fe-based BMG via SLM are presented.•High residual stress and inherent brittleness are responsible for crack formation.•A novel chessboard scanning followed laser re-melting relieves residual stress.•Crack-free Fe-based BMG can be fabricated by above scanning strategy. Fe-based bulk metallic glass shows superior mechanical, chemical and physical properties, but its inherent brittleness and micro-cracks hinder further applications. In this paper, a novel chessboard scanning strategy combined with laser re-melting was introduced to overcome the micro-cracks of Fe-based bulk metallic glass via selective laser melting (SLM). The chessboard scanning combied with laser re-melting strategy decreases the residual stress to 168 MPa, which is only 29% of that by traditional scaning strategy. This work provides a feasible route to process crack-free Fe-based bulk metallic glass components by using SLM.