Fabrication of orientated micro porous metals: Control the melting process of powders by high scanning speed - ultra short hatch spacing scanning strategy

Selective laser melting or selective laser sintering (SLM/SLS) was one of the most important ways to prepare porous metals. However, it had the problems of complicated processes and poor controllability in the preparation of oriented micro porosity. The high scanning speed - ultra short hatch spacing scanning strategy (HUS) was proposed in this work, and the oriented micro porous TC4 specimens with uniform pores and high porosity were prepared. The pores diameter of specimens ranged from 30 μm to 120 μm and the porosity reached 45.19 % with the yield strength of 100 MPa. Compared with the traditional scanning strategies, the HUS could effectively increase porosity, reduce pore size, and control porosity orientation.