Optimization of Laser-Powder Bed Fusion Processed Fe-4.5Si Alloy via Response Surface Methodology

Abstract

Fe-Si alloy-based additive manufacturing (AM) has become a popular manufacturing process of complex-shaped parts for electric mobility vehicles. However, an optimization strategy has yet to be established owing to the various processing parameters of the AM process. Because the energy density-based approach is unable to consider external factors (e.g., irregularly shaped powders and instrumental effects), the present study applies the response surface methodology (RSM) to estimate the properties of AM-processed Fe-Si alloy samples. Quadratic polynomial models of the density and hardness based on the RSM successfully estimated the properties of as-built Fe-4.5Si alloy samples with a deviation of 5% from the experimental results. Based on the verified mathematical models, the optimal conditions to manufacture a Fe-4.5Si sample with the highest density and hardness combination are 125.38 W and 800 mm s(-1). The results indicate that RSM is an effective approach for optimizing the properties of AM-processed parts with a limited amount of experimental data.