Metal printing (DMLS / SLM) material guide
Every setting that lives on a Metal printing (DMLS / SLM) material, and where each number comes from - usually a supplier's data sheet or an invoice.
A material is something you buy, so most of these numbers are on an invoice or a data sheet rather than in your head. Price and density are the two that matter most; get those right and everything else is a refinement.
Materials live in the Library too, so a price change is one edit even if five configurations use it.
Every setting on this page
These are in the same order as the editor, with the same help text. Each one has an anchor, and the ? beside a field in your console links straight to it - so if you are reading this because you clicked one, the setting you were looking at is highlighted.
Powder: building
Build-rate factorbuild_rate_factor_pctbasiccalibratable
How fast this powder melts relative to the machine's 316L rate.
Price: Exposure time is divided by it: aluminium builds faster, nickel alloys and copper slower.
Typical: 316L 100 %, AlSi10Mg 150-200 %, Ti6Al4V 80-90 %, IN718 65-75 %.
This is one of the numbers the calibration tool can fit from jobs you have already run, so you do not have to guess it.
Powder losspowder_loss_pct
Powder that is melted or handled but never sold: spatter, condensate, sieve rejects.
Price: Added on top of the metal in the part and its supports, at the powder price.
Typical: 5-12 %.
Stress relief is mandatorystress_relief_mandatorybasic
Whether every build in this alloy goes through a stress-relief furnace cycle before cut-off.
Price: On, one furnace cycle per build is charged as the `metal_pbf.stress_relief` consumable and the option is not offered.
Typical: On for Ti6Al4V and Inconel.
Reactive powderreactive
Titanium and aluminium powders, which need a machine fitted for them.
Price: No direct price effect: it limits which machines can run the powder.
Typical: On for Ti and Al alloys.
Minimum wallmin_wall_mm
Thinnest wall that builds reliably in this powder.
Price: No direct price effect: it is the threshold for the thin-wall finding.
Typical: 0.4-0.5 mm.
Minimum clearancemin_gap_mm
Narrowest gap that stays open; powder sinters across anything narrower.
Price: No direct price effect: it is the threshold for the thin-gap finding.
Typical: 0.3-0.5 mm.
Minimum feature radiusmin_feature_mm
Smallest radius of curved detail that is resolved.
Price: No direct price effect: it is the threshold for the small-feature finding.
Typical: 0.2-0.3 mm.
Largest solid section (0 = no limit)max_section_cm2
Largest cross-section you build in this alloy before residual stress risks cracks or a part lifting off its supports.
Price: Over it the line carries the large-flat risk adder and the `large_cross_section` finding.
Typical: 60-150 cm².