Kamel Ettaieb, Sylvain Lavernhe and Christophe Tournier
This paper aims to propose an analytical thermal three-dimensional model that allows an efficient evaluation of the thermal effect of the laser-scanning path. During manufacturing…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to propose an analytical thermal three-dimensional model that allows an efficient evaluation of the thermal effect of the laser-scanning path. During manufacturing by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF), the laser-scanning path influences the thermo-mechanical behavior of parts. Therefore, it is necessary to validate the path generation considering the thermal behavior induced by this process to improve the quality of parts.
Design/methodology/approach
The proposed model, based on the effect of successive thermal flashes along the scanning path, is calibrated and validated by comparison with thermal results obtained by FEM software and experimental measurements. A numerical investigation is performed to compare different scanning path strategies on the Ti6Al4V material with different stimulation parameters.
Findings
The simulation results confirm the effectiveness of the approach to simulate the thermal field to validate the scanning strategy. It suggests a change in the scale of simulation thanks to high-performance computing resources.
Originality/value
The flash-based approach is designed to ensure the quality of the simulated thermal field while minimizing the computational cost.
Details
Keywords
Kamel Ettaieb, Kevin Godineau, Sylvain Lavernhe and Christophe Tournier
In Laser Power Bed Fusion (LPBF), the process and operating parameters influence the mechanical and geometrical characteristics of the manufactured parts. Therefore, the…
Abstract
Purpose
In Laser Power Bed Fusion (LPBF), the process and operating parameters influence the mechanical and geometrical characteristics of the manufactured parts. Therefore, the optimization and control of these parameters are mandatory to improve the quality of the produced parts. During manufacturing, the process parameters are usually constant whatever the part size or the built layer. With such settings, the manufacturing process may lead to an inhomogeneous thermal behavior and locally overheating areas, impacting the part quality. The aim of this study is to take advantage of an analytical thermal model to modulate the laser power upstream of manufacturing.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach takes place in two steps: the first step consists in calculating the preheating temperature at the considered point and the second one determines the power modulation of the laser to reach the desired temperature at this point.
Findings
Numerical investigations on several use cases show the effectiveness of the method to control the overheated areas and to homogenize the simulated temperature distribution.
Originality/value
The specificity of this model lies in its ability to directly calculate the amount of energy to be supplied without any iterative calculation. Furthermore, to be as close as possible to the technology used on LPBF machines, the kinematic behavior of the scanning head and the laser response time are also integrated into the calculation.