Thermal Conductivity of Metal Powder and Consolidated Material Fabricated via Selective Laser Melting

Abstract

Selective Laser Melting (SLM) is a direct fabrication of part through layer by layer powder deposition and successive laser beam irradiation based on Computer Aided Design (CAD) data. One of the important properties in SLM is thermal conductivity of metal powder. This is because the ability of metal powder to conduct heat will affect the consolidation process during SLM. In this paper, thermal conductivity of metal powders with different particle diameters and their mixture was analysed. Other than that, thermal conductivity of consolidated materials fabricated via SLM process was also studied. In order to measure the thermal conductivity of metal powder, a theoretically verified method which was previously developed by the authors was used. Determination of thermal conductivity of consolidated material was analysed using laser flash technique. It was found that the thermal conductivity of powder metal was influenced by bulk density and particle diameter of metal powder. In this study also, metal powders of different particle diameters were mixed with various volume ratios, and its effect was discussed. Thermal conductivity of the consolidated materials was also examined, and its relation to porosity was elaborated.