3D Finite Element Simulation for the Temperature Field of Direct Metal Laser Sintering Process

A direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) process was analyzed by adopting a 3D finite element simulation approach. The complexity of the temperature field in direct metal laser sintering was investigated by the self-characteristics of moving heat source. In order to understand the heating-cooling process of laser molten pool and the mutual effect of sintering layers during multi-layers metal powder sintering process, factors such as heat conduction, heat convection, heat radiation and the high non-linearity of the materials have been taken into account synthetically. A 3D FE model of the temperature field of direct metal laser sintering was established based on ANSYS software. The APDL (ANSYS Parametric Design Language) was used to describe the evolvement rules of the temperature field. The quantitative analysis among the sintered depth, sintered width and the layer-joint in the multi-tracks were discussed. The dynamic description of the materials addition was successfully achieved by the birth/death technique. The investigation provides a guide for study on the validity of simulation and optimization of the process parameters in the subsequent experiment.