Roughness modeling of AlSi10Mg parts fabricated by selective laser melting

Selective Laser Melting is one of the most promising industrial Additive Manufacturing technologies for the fabrication of metallic components. It combines the ability of the Additive Manufacturing processes to fabricate complex parts with the possibility to obtain metallic components characterized by porosity and mechanical properties very close to those obtained by traditional fabrication processes. Notwithstanding these aspects, to date the obtainable surface roughness is a limitation for the industrial implementation of this technology. In this work an investigation about the surface roughness and morphology of AlSi10Mg parts fabricated by Selective Laser Melting is presented. The aim is the development of a model able to predict the roughness as a function of the local part geometry. The proposed methodology accounts for the staircase effect, typical of all the Additive Manufacturing technologies, and the actual surface modeled through the mathematical formulation of the horizontal and vertical profiles. The experimental observations permitted to tune the technological model and the validation highlighted the applicability to a complex curved geometry.