Abstract
In laser powder bed fusion additive manufacturing (LPBFAM), different solidification conditions, e.g., thermal gradient and cooling rate, can be achieved by controlling the process parameters, such as laser power and laser speed. Tailoring the behaviour of the columnar to equiaxed transition (CET) of the printed alloy during fabrication can facilitate the production of highly customized microstructures. In this study, effective analytical solutions for both thermal conduction and solidification are employed to model solidifying melt pools. Microstructure textures and solidification conditions are evaluated for numerous combinations of laser power and laser speed under bead-on-plate conditions. This analytical-based high-throughput tool was demonstrated to select specific process parameters that lead to desired microstructures. Two selected process conditions were examined in detail by a highly parallelized microstructural solidification model to reveal both nucleation and grain growth. Both numerical solutions agree well with experiments that are performed based on bead-on-plate conditions, indicating that these numerical models aid evaluation of the nucleation parameters, providing insights for controlling CET during the LPBFAM processing.
Highlights
The Laser Powder Bed Fusion Additive Manufacturing process (LPBFAM) is one of the most used additive manufacturing processes for direct materials consolidation
Microstructure textures and solidification conditions are evaluated for numerous combinations of laser power and laser speed under bead-on-plate conditions
The thermal analytical solution does not take into account the temperature dependent material properties nor the latent heat during solidification
Summary
The Laser Powder Bed Fusion Additive Manufacturing process (LPBFAM) is one of the most used additive manufacturing processes for direct materials consolidation. To further evaluate the predictions, selective process parameters that result in different grain morphologies are predicted by a highly parallelized microstructural solidification model to reveal both nucleation and grain growth. Predictions from both methods are compared with experiments, providing effective tools to examine CET during LPBFAM processing. Model description Analytical solutions have been widely applied to evaluate process conditions and microstructure morphologies during solidification processes They are effective methods to screen a large range of process parameters in comparison to physics-based high-fidelity numerical models. A summary of both analytical solutions and the solidification model is provided below
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