Behavior of metal powders during laser-based additive manufacturing processes has been investigated.

What is it about?

Experiments of direct metal deposition have been carried out to evaluate the effect of the laser power and spot size on the powder/substrate interaction and on the surface morphology of the final piece. A fast-camera has been used to evaluate the interaction phenomena during the printing process, while confocal microscopy has been carried out to measure the surface morphology of the samples. Results highlighted that increasing the laser power and laser spot size, the particle impact velocity is about constant, while the powder/laser/substrate interaction zone increases.

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Why is it important?

Understanding hydrodynamics and thermal behavior of particles during Direct Metal Deposition process is important to improve the final microstructure and mechanical properties of pieces made by Additive Manufacturing