📄 Read the publication: https://doi.org/10.1002/adem.202501224 

Authors: Ignacio Tabares, Marcelo Sallese, Marcos Soldera, and Andrés Fabián Lasagni (Technische Universität Dresden); Ugo Andral (SYLAS Laser Systems); Eddie Kavanagh and Aidan Cloonan (DePuy Synthes); Flavio Soldera (Saarland University). 

The research, carried out within the CLASCO project, addresses one of the main challenges in additive manufacturing: the high surface roughness of components produced by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF). The TU Dresden team developed a process combining laser polishing (LP) and direct laser interference patterning (DLIP) to smooth and functionalize 3D-printed titanium alloy parts. 

The approach reduces surface roughness from up to 31 µm to about 1.7 µm and achieves homogeneous microstructures with aspect ratios up to 1.0. A new cost function was introduced to evaluate the trade-off between energy consumption and structural quality, revealing that nanosecond-based DLIP offers greater depth efficiency, while picosecond processing yields finer microtextures with minimal thermal impact. 

This study provides valuable insights for developing energy-efficient and high-quality post-processing techniques for complex additive-manufactured components, supporting the sustainable production of functional 3D parts across industries.