Temperature field simulations during selective laser melting process based on fully threaded tree

Abstract

Selective laser melting (SLM) is a promising technique for additive manufacturing. During SLM of metallic powder, the temperature field and thermal history are important to understand physical phenomena involved. The purpose of this study is to simulate the temperature field during the SLM process of a hollow cylinder shape part based on a fully threaded tree (FTT) technique, and to analyze the temperature variation with time in different regions of the part. A revised model for temperature field simulation in the SLM process was employed, which includes the transition of powder-to-dense sub-model and a moving volumetric Gaussian distribution heat source sub-model. The FTT technique is then adopted as an adaptive mesh strategy in the simulation. The simulation result shows that during the SLM process of cylinder part, the temperature of inner powder bed is obviously higher than external one. The temperature at the internal of the molten pool is also higher than external, which may lead to differences in microstructures and other properties between the two regions.