SSAB has built a pilot gas atomization facility looking to expand their expertise of steel into the metal powder and additive manufacturing industry. Laser powder bed fusion is an additive manufacturing method that melts and fuse metal feedstock powder together layer by layer using a high intensity laser. The complex process requires optimization in order to be competitive. The process parameters laser power, scan speed, hatch distance and layer thickness largely govern the build rate and total production time. To increase the build rate, two iterations of test cubes with unique parameters sets were experimentally printed. Evaluation of relative density, porosity, microstructure, hardness and mechanical properties was performed. All results were compared to a reference parameter set previously studied. A candidate parameter set successfully increased the build rate by 116% while maintaining satisfactory material properties.

The interest for additive manufacturing techniques have in recent years increased considerably because of their association to good printing resolution, unique design possibilities and microstructure. In this master project, 316L stainless steel was printed using metal laser powder bed fusion in an attempt to find process parameters which yield good productivity while maintaining as good material properties as possible. Laser powder bed fusion works by melting a powder bed locally with a laser. When one slice of the material is done, the powder bed is lowered, new powder is added on top, and the process is repeated, building the components layer by layer. In this thesis, samples produced with a powder layer thickness of 80 μm and 100 μm has been investigated. Process parameters like laser power, scanning speed and hatch spacing were investigated in order to establish clear processing windows where the highest productivity and lowest porosity are obtained. The most common defects in all sample batches were lack of fusion, gas pores, and spatter related pores. The best samples with regard to both porosity and build rate were obtained at normalized build rates between 1,3-1,6 and porosity-values in the 0,01-0,1 % range.