Technological Assurance of Surface Roughness of Ti-6Al-4V Parts Made Using Additive and Conventional Manufacturing Methods

Additive manufacturing (AM) is finding increasing application in engineering, especially in manufacturing. As a result, new designs and machines not previously possible due to the restrictions of conventional manufacturing methods may be made. Nevertheless, the same AM parts require post-processing using conventional machining methods such as turning which is the subject of this study. This study provides a comparative analysis of the technological assurance of Ti-6Al-4V parts made via AM using selective laser melting (SLM) and conventional manufacturing methods. The effects of machining parameters such as cutting speed, depth of cut, and feed on the surface roughness of machined Ti-6Al-4V parts are studied. The study concluded that at low feed (0.12 mm/rev.) and low and average depth of cut (0.3 mm and 0.5 mm), the best surface roughness was obtained on the 3D printed samples rather than on the samples obtained using the conventional manufacturing method. In addition, an alternative surface roughness measurement scheme is proposed, which not only allows for measuring the surface roughness, including multiple aspects, but also for identifying possible surface defects in AM parts.