Numerical Simulation of Multi-Component Powder in Selective Laser Sintering

Abstract

The process of sintering material from the powder to the liquid with high temperature and then to the continuous solid are simulated, considering the effects of heat conduction, thermal radiation, thermal convection and thermal physical parameters on temperature. The results show that the temperature gradient is larger in the front of pool, and the end of which is smaller due to the fast-moving laser beam and uneven distribution of laser energy. With the increase of scanning time, the overall temperature of substrate and powder particles is gradually rising, the heat-affected zone is increasing and the asymmetric temperature distribution has become more obvious for the heat conduction. As the pool depth is larger than the powder thickness and the pool width is larger than the scanning spacing at the current process parameters, the bond strength of layers and scanning lines is enough.