Gas entrapment and pore formation in metal droplet-based 3D printing

Abstract

Gas entrapment behavior during metal droplet deposition tends to form pore defects and discourages interfacial bonding between droplets, resulting in lower densities and poorer performance of printed components. Moreover, the gas entrapment process is influenced by the interaction of gas-liquid two-phase flow and non-isothermal solidification, which makes the interfacial behavior of droplets challenging to identify. Therefore, gaining insight into the gas entrapment behavior and pore formation mechanism at the bottom of molten droplets is essential. This paper established a model of two-dimensional axisymmetric numerical by combining the fluid volume tracking method and heat transfer solidification model. Single metal molten droplet deposition experiments verified the accuracy of the model. The evolution of solid phase fraction, velocity field, pressure field, and contact surface heat flux during the deposition of the molten droplet at low Weber numbers (0.1-10) was investigated comprehensively. The mechanisms of gas entrapment and pore formation were revealed. The effects of molten droplet impact velocity, contact angle, and surface tension on the gas film evolution process and pore morphology were further investigated. The results show that decreasing the droplet impact velocity causes capillary waves to contact the substrate surface and form local solidification, allowing the gas disk to evolve into central and two peripheral pores. Moreover, the pore breaks away from the substrate and remains inside the droplet when decreasing the droplet contact angle to 50°. Furthermore, the rate of gas disk retraction decreases as surface tension reduces, which may accentuate the resistance effect of the contact surface solidification layer on the gas disk retraction, thus changing the final morphology of the pores. These findings elucidate the mechanism of pore formation at the bottom of molten metal droplets and further understand the interfacial behavior of droplets in 3D-printed metal structures.