Laser Metal Deposition of Titanium Alloy: Effect of Laser Power on Surface Finish

Laser Metal Deposition (LMD) is a non-traditional manufacturing process used for production of intricate parts by successive addition of layers of material. However, obtaining processed parts with good surface finish always poses great challenges. In this study the effects of the processing parameter in LMD processes on the surface characteristics of Titanium Alloy (Ti-6Al- 4V) was investigated. The response function considered was Surface Roughness (Ra) and (Rmax), while the LMD input parameter that was varied is the laser power. The scanning speed, powder flow rate and gas flow rate were kept constant. The investigation showed that the highest laser power of 3.2 KW gave the lowest surface roughness of 0.7μm which implies that for better surface, high laser power is required.