Investigating the Effect of Electron Beam Melting Parameters on the Ti6Al4V Alloy: A Simulation Study

Abstract

Electron beam melting is one of few techniques that can melt powder directly; is a powder bed technique, classified as an additive manufacturing method. The electron beam melting method is based on melting the material to build a high-density solid part by applying a high-energy electron beam to a powder layer in a vacuum chamber. The parameters used during the electron beam melting process significantly affect the properties of the final part being printed. These parameters are beam power, spot size, scanning speed, and layer thickness. It is necessary to choose the best values for these parameters to increase the surface integrity of the part built. This study developed a computational fluid dynamics model with a moving Gaussian distribution electron beam source applied to one layer consisting of Ti6Al4V alloy powders. The model was solved with the ANSYS software to investigate the effects of the selected parameters. The results indicated that the temperature gradients, molten pool sizes, and melting-evaporation temperature ranges were determined by applying the parameter combinations used on the beam-powder interaction throughout the process. The simulation results have emphasised the outcomes determined by the power and scanning speed parameters that directly affect the molten pool dimensions. This way, the status of powder-beam interaction zones has been identified as either within or outside the melting-evaporation range.