Melting and resolidification of a subcooled metal powder particle subjected to nanosecond laser heating

Melting and resolidification of a subcooled spherical metal powder particle subjected to nanosecond laser heating are investigated analytically. The problem is divided into three stages: preheating, melting and resolidification, and thermalization. The temperature distributions in the liquid and solid regions and the location of the solid-liquid interface are obtained using an integral approximate method. The effects of the laser intensity and pulse width, initial subcooling, and particle radius on the melting and resolidification of powder particles were investigated. The Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) process for a pulsed laser can be simulated by repeating the three stages but varying the initial conditions. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.