A pragmatic model for selective laser melting with evaporation

Selective laser melting (SLM) is a Rapid Manufacturing technique in which parts of complex shape are produced by selectively melting layers of powder. A thorough understanding of the process is crucial for a good control of the properties of the produced parts. In this paper we present a pragmatic engineering model to study aspects of the SLM process using an enthalpy formulation and accounting for shrinkage and laser light penetration. We investigate the importance of evaporation for a set of process parameters relevant to production and find that evaporation is a phenomenon that cannot be neglected at realistic power inputs. However, phenomena such as Marangoni convection and wetting due to surface tension effects need to be considered in the future. (C) 2009 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.