Accurate laser powder bed fusion modelling using ISPH

The laser-beam powder bed fusion process for metals, or PBF-LB/M for short, is a widely used process for the additive manufacturing of components and tools. Numerical simulations are useful to identify optimal process parameters for different materials and to obtain process-structure-property relationships. The present work uses an incompressible Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) scheme to model PBF-LB/M which was found to reduce the required computation time and significantly stabilize the partially violent flow in the melt pool in comparison to a weakly compressible approach. The laser-material interaction is realistically modelled by means of ray tracing. An efficient scheme is used to model thermal and pressure boundary conditions. Very good agreement could be found by comparing the simulation results with experimental data of the remaining porosity in the produced parts, the transition from conduction mode to keyhole mode, and geometric properties of the vapor depression zone.