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Numerical investigation of thermal behavior and melt pool morphology in multi-track multi-layer selective laser melting of the 316L steel

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Abstract

Rapid melting and solidification of powder particles through a high-power laser is the characteristic feature of selective laser melting (SLM), which controls the material and physical properties of fabricated components. Considering the multi-track multi-layer nature of an actual SLM process, an investigation of thermal behavior and melt pool morphology in multi-track multi-layer SLM of the 316L steel is presented in this paper. The SLM process of a four-layer component with multiple tracks was modeled. Element birth and death technique was used to simulate the layer built-up process. The established FEM model was used to investigate the variations in thermal variables and melt pool morphology with increasing number of layers. Moreover, the influence of various processing parameters in a multi-track multi-layer SLM was also studied. The results show that maximum melt pool temperature, melt pool width, and melt pool depth increase with increasing number of layers, whereas heating rates and cooling rates decrease with increasing number of layers. Compared with the previous layer, melt pool lifetime was observed to have a decreasing trend for layer 2 and increasing trend for layers 3 and 4. An increase in melt pool depth and decrease in melt pool width was observed by increasing hatch spacing. Furthermore, it was found that increasing laser power and scanning speeds both increase the heating and cooling rates.

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Funding

The authors receive financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC, Grant Nos.: 51905306 and 51975335), the Key Research and Development Program of Shandong Province (Grant Nos.: 2019GGX104008 and 2019GGX104006), Special Support for Post-doc Creative Funding of Shandong Province (201902005), and the Taishan Scholars Project of Shandong Province of China (No. ts20190975).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of High Efficiency and Clean Mechanical Manufacture, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, 250061, China

    Saad Waqar, Qidong Sun, Kai Guo & Jie Sun

  2. Research Centre for Aeronautical Component Manufacturing Technology and Equipment, Jinan, China

    Saad Waqar, Qidong Sun, Kai Guo & Jie Sun

  3. School of Energy and Power Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, 250061, China

    Jiangwei Liu

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  1. Saad Waqar
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Correspondence to Kai Guo or Jie Sun.

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Waqar, S., Sun, Q., Liu, J. et al. Numerical investigation of thermal behavior and melt pool morphology in multi-track multi-layer selective laser melting of the 316L steel. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 112, 879–895 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-020-06360-0

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