Abstract
The effect of laser beam profile on the melt width and melt penetration of the molten material in Selective Laser Melting (SLM) using aluminium alloy 6061 (AA6061) was investigated. For the Gaussian laser beam, the melt width and melt penetration increased by 54.9 +/- 39.22 mu m and 8.1 +/- 59.4 mu m respectively when laser power was increased by 50 W, reduced by 35.3 +/- 54.91 mu m and increased by 7.1 +/- 39.5 mu m respectively when the hatch spacing was reduced by 0.05 mm. While for the uniform laser beam, the melt width and melt penetration reduced by 138.5 +/- 71.2 mu m and 8.2 +/- 41.9 mu m respectively when scan speed was increased by 200 mm/s, reduced by 197.1 +/- 53.0 mu m and increased by 4.1 +/- 49.0 mu m respectively when hatch spacing was reduced by 0.1 mm.