Phase-field modeling on laser melting of a metallic powder

Theoretical analysis of selective laser melting process is important for design, optimization, and quality or reliability control of additive manufacturing process. As the spatial resolution increases, the analysis becomes a great challenge due to complicated thermal fluid processes across multiple temporal and spatial scales. This article presents a phase field formulation for the simulation of a single powder melting process driven by a scanning laser beam. The figure demonstrates instantaneous temperature distribution with a melting front, and the coupled velocity and vorticity fields induced by the thermal capillary effect along the free surface.107