Simulation of melt pool behavior during laser powder bed fusion additive manufacturing process

Laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) is one of the most promising additive manufacturing (AM) technology enabling fabrication of metal components with complex shapes. During L-PBF process, a high energy laser is used as heat source to melt the metal powder bed, creates a thin molten pool of metal followed by rapid solidification. The quality and performances of the built parts are highly dependent on the process parameters. To give a better understanding of the complex physical phenomena and the relationship between process parameters and quality of final parts, it’s essential to develop a numerical model to investigate the melt pool behavior during L-PBF process. This study aims to develop a CFD model to simulate the heat transfer and fluid flow of melt pool during L-PBF process, taking into account the free surface of the molten pool, recoil pressure caused by evaporation, and Marangoni effect caused by surface tension gradient. The model will be further used to investigate the effect of process parameters (coupled with a powder bed spreading DEM model) and surface active elements on the melt pool behavior, and oxide inclusions generation and movement in the molten pool.