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ACTA AERONAUTICAET ASTRONAUTICA SINICA ›› 2022, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (4): 525240-525240.doi: 10.7527/S1000-6893.2021.25240

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Numerical simulation of melt pool evolution and metal spattering characterization during selective laser melting processing

QU Ruizhi1,2, HUANG Liangpei1,2, XIAO Dongming3   

  1. 1. School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan 411201, China;
    2. Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Health Maintenance for Mechanical Equipment, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan 411201, China;
    3. School of Mechatronics Engineering, Foshan University, Foshan 528225, China
  • Received:2021-01-11 Revised:2021-01-29 Published:2021-05-10
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China (51875195, 52075163)

Abstract: Selective Laser Melting (SLM) forming technology is an important development area of new additive manufacturing technology. A high-fidelity powder-scale laser melting model for SLM is developed to show the whole process of from the beginning of melting and droplet spattering to melt channel forming and to cooling and solidification of the powder layer. The spattering behavior of the molten droplet is an unavoidable source of forming defects in the metal powder layer fusion process. With the help of numerical simulation, the evolution of the spattering phenomenon in the laser fusion process was restored, overcoming the problem that the quantitative characterization of the internal and droplet spattering behavior of the melt pool cannot be obtained from actual experiments, and obtaining the information on the forming mechanism of the molten droplet spattering as well as information on the temperature, velocity, pressure and position shift over time during the spattering process. The results show that metal vapor action and inert gas flow jointly drove the melt pool flow and droplet spattering behavior, with the velocity of the high temperature melt flow ranging from 1 m/s to 6 m/s and the velocity of the droplet spattering ranging from 1 m/s to 4 m/s. With the adjustment of process parameters, the volume morphology and spattering direction of the spattering droplets changed. Based on the experimental analysis, the trajectory of the molten droplets and the ‘secondary explosion’ and ‘spinning ball’ behaviors of the molten droplets during the airborne spattering were captured. This study is a complement to the analytical understanding of spattering behavior from actual experiments, and further contributes to the kinetic characterization of complex fluid flow and spattering phenomena during laser fusion by extracting quantitative information on energy absorption/dissipation of the complete life cycle of the spatter.

Key words: selective laser melting, metal powder, spatter, molten pool evolution, 316L stainless steel, discrete element method

CLC Number: