Metals (Oct 2023)

Optimization of Laser Powder Bed Fusion Process for Forming Porous Ta Scaffold

  • Lin Gao,
  • Yikai Wang,
  • Xiao Qin,
  • Naixin Lv,
  • Zhiqiang Tong,
  • Changning Sun,
  • Dichen Li

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/met13101764
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 10
p. 1764

Abstract

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To improve the performance of porous tantalum (Ta) manufactured by laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) and meet its application requirements in medicine, the authors of this paper studied the influence of L-PBF process parameters on the strut surface morphology and mechanical performance. It was found that the powder layer thickness had a significant influence on the microstructure and mechanical properties based on statistical analysis. We proposed optimal process parameters of laser power of 150 W, scanning speed of 270 mm/s, thickness of 0.05 mm, and scanning spacing of 0.07 mm. After parameter optimization, we successfully obtained Ta samples with an elastic modulus of 1.352 ± 0.007 GPa and yield strength of 53.217 ± 0.114 MPa. The results show that the elastic modulus and yield strength of porous Ta samples with a porosity of 80% under the optimal process parameters are significantly superior to previous studies. The porous Ta scaffolds with higher mechanical properties fabricated with the optimized process parameters of L-PBF have significant value for applications in medicine.

Keywords