  Limited process control can cause metallurgical defect formation and
inhomogeneous relative density in laser powder bed fusion manufactured parts.
In this study, cylindrical 15-5 PH stainless steel specimens are investigated
by computer tomography; it shows an edge enhanced relative density profile.
Additionally, the on axis monitoring signal, obtained from recording the
thermal radiation of the melt pool, is considered. Analyzing data for the full
duration of the building process results in a statistically increased melt pool
signature close to the edge corresponding to the density profile. Edge specific
patterns in the on axis signal are found by unsupervised times series
clustering. The observations are interpreted using finite element method
modeling: For exemplary points at the center and edge it shows different local
thermal histories attributed to the chosen laser scan pattern. The results
motivate a route towards future design of components with locally dependent
material parameters.
