High Speed Sintering is an advanced powder bed fusion polymer Additive Manufacturing technique aimed at economical production of end-use parts in series manufacture. Surface finish is thus of high importance to end users. This study investigates the surface topography of High Speed Sintered parts produced using a range of different energy-related process parameters including sinter speed, lamp power and ink grey level. Areal surface texture was measured using Focus Variation microscopy and the sample porosity was systematically examined by the X-ray Computed Tomography technique. Surface topography was further characterised by Scanning Electron Microscopy, following which the samples were subject to tensile testing. Results showed that areal surface texture is strongly correlated with porosity, which can be further linked with mechanical properties. Certain texture parameters i.e. arithmetic mean height Sa, root-mean-square Sq and maximum valley depth Sv were identified as good indicators that can be used to compare porosity and/or mechanical properties between different samples, as well as distinguish up-, down-skins and side surfaces. Sa, Sq and Sv for up- and down-skins were found to correlate with the above energy-related process parameters. It was also revealed that skewness Ssk and kurtosis Sku are related to sphere-like protrusions, sub-surface porosity and re-entrant features. Energy input is the fundamental reason that causes varying porosity levels and consequently different surface topographies and mechanical properties, with a 10.07 μm and a 30.21 % difference in Sa and porosity, respectively, between the ‘low’ and ‘high’ energy input.

高速烧结是一种先进的粉末床熔融聚合物增材制造技术，旨在经济地批量生产最终用途零件。因此，表面光洁度对最终用户至关重要。这项研究调查了高速烧结零件的表面形貌，这些零件使用了一系列与能源有关的不同工艺参数，包括烧结速度，灯功率和油墨灰度。使用聚焦变化显微镜测量地表表面纹理，并通过X射线计算机断层扫描技术系统地检查样品的孔隙率。表面形貌通过扫描电子显微镜进一步表征，然后对样品进行拉伸测试。结果表明，区域表面纹理与孔隙率密切相关，可以进一步与机械性能联系起来。某些纹理参数，例如算术平均高度Sa，均方根Sq和最大谷底深度Sv被确定为良好的指标，可以用来比较不同样品之间的孔隙率和/或力学性能，以及区分上，下皮和侧面。发现用于上皮和下皮的Sa，Sq和Sv与上述与能量相关的工艺参数相关。还发现偏度Ssk和峰度Sku与球形凸起，地下孔隙度和凹角特征有关。能量输入是导致孔隙率水平发生变化，进而导致表面形貌和机械性能不同的根本原因，“低”和“高”能量输入之间的Sa和孔隙率分别相差10.07μm和30.21％。