Application of base plate preheating during selective laser melting

Base plate preheating is one of the recent enhancing tools added to the process of Selective Laser Melting (SLM). This tool aims at a reduction of thermal stresses in SLM parts, achieved by decreasing the thermal gradients during SLM processing. In the current study, base plate preheating up to a temperature of 400°C is applied during SLM of 4 different materials, including aluminum 7075 alloy, nickel alloy Hastelloy X, H13 tool steel and CoCr. General trends, as well as material specific effects are discussed regarding part density, crack formation, internal stresses, microstructure and mechanical properties. These show how base plate preheating can induce different influences according to each particular material category.