3D finite element temperature field modelling for direct laser fabrication

In order to describe the thermal dynamics behaviour in direct laser fabrication (DLF), a 3D finite element temperature field model is proposed to be built/developed based on global model and sub-model pattern. The global model exhibits the heat conduction characteristics of parts in the whole thermal history according to scanning path planning. Contact pairs and gap elements, which consider the effect of the temperature and porosity-dependent thermal conduction, are designed in the model to explain powder-to-solid intrinsic transition. In addition, the elements removed and reactivated technology is applied in the model so as to embody the material stepwise increasing feature. A laser-repairing case developed by ABAQUS demonstrates the global model’s thermal history, and the influence of non-linear behaviour of thermal properties in pure nickel on the temperature distribution is estimated as well. Adopting the thermal physical parameters with solid–liquid phase change will make the melted pool temperature higher than that where the solid–liquid phase change parameters are not considered.     

Numerical simulation of single-pulse laser ablation for dressing a bronze-bond diamond grinding wheel

To investigate the interaction between a laser beam and the bronze substrate in pulsed laser dressing of bronze-bonded diamond abrasive grinding wheels, a two-dimensional, transient numerical model of the three-phase (solid–liquid–gas) coupling in single-pulse laser ablation of the bronze was developed. The model accounts for the heat transfer, solidification, melting and vaporisation processes; the latent heat mechanism of the phase changes; and various critical factors such as surface tension, the vaporisation-induced recoil force, the thermal buoyancy force, and Darcy friction. The phase-field method is used to accurately track the development of the liquid/vapour (L/V) interface in the ablation crater. The finite element analysis software COMSOL Multiphysics was used to calculate the internal temperature field of the bronze substrate, the velocity field in the metallic vapour zone, and the evolution of the shape of the ablation crater during single-pulse laser ablation with various average laser power levels. The maximum error between the experimental results and the numerical analysis was less than 5%, which shows that the results are consistent. This model can accurately simulate the dynamic behaviour of the crater L/V interface during single-pulse laser ablation. This study provides a theoretical foundation for further research on laser dressing technology for bronze-bonded diamond grinding wheels.     

Kinetics of polycarbonate distraction during laser-assisted sintering

Particularities of the selective laser sintering (SLS) on Nd⁺³:YAG laser and conditions of the polycarbonate (PC) destruction in the course of the manufacturing of porous three-dimensional parts made of the powdered metal–polymer compositions (MPC) were studied for their dependence on the laser influence (LI) parameters and the MPC composition. The initial powders of PC?+?Cu blend were prepared in the weight ratios 1:4, 1:6, and 1:10 for the micrometer-sized copper. To compare the SLS conditions, mixtures with proportions of 9:1, 7:3, 4:1 with nanosized copper additives were also provided. For the study, the scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis, IR spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and differential thermal analysis dates, and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry were carried out. The monitored parameter was the kinetics of a thermal destruction and thermo-oxidizing destruction of the PC evaluated by the change of the sol–gel fraction content, density, intrinsic viscosity, and molecular weight PC after the SLS process. It was shown that the activation energy of the PC destruction in nitrogen is higher than that in the air. The increase in the PC concentration in the MPC results in the decrease in the destruction processes activity. The metal inclusions have a shielding effect, thus moving the temperature range for the polymer destruction towards the region of higher temperatures, and therefore decreasing the rate of the PC decomposition under a fast temperature rise. The activation nature of the thermo-oxidizing destruction substantially goes down with the increase of the PC concentration in the MPC, and the comparison by the absolute values shows that the thermal destruction predominates over the oxidizing destruction during the SLS process.     

新的激光快速成形方法及应用

针对目前主要激光快速成形方法的优缺点,提出一种基于三维实体边界分割的激光快速成形新方法.该方法将叠层实体制造(LOM)法主要进行激光二维轮廓线扫描和选择性激光烧结(SLS)法能够加工多种覆膜粉末材料的优点有机结合,能够克服SLS法加工效率低,成形件致密度、硬度、精度和表面粗糙度等性能较低的缺点.利用自主开发的快速成形系统,采用热像仪测温与Ansys模拟激光能量输入模型相结合的方法对工艺参数进行确定,对基于三维实体边界分割激光快速成形方法进行应用研究,实现三维实体的快速成形及金属零件的快速铸造,并通过无模具快速铸造的手段获得金属齿轮铸件.     

Temperature and stress analysis and simulation in fractal scanning-based laser sintering

A model for calculating the evolution of temperature and thermal stresses within a single metallic layer formed on the powder bed using different scanning patterns in selective laser sintering (SLS) was proposed. The model allows for the non-linear behavior of thermal conductivity, specific heat, and elastic modulus due to temperature changes and plastic deformation capabilities with a bilinear isotropic hardening behavior. The effect of laser scanning patterns on temperature, residual thermal stresses and distortion were investigated. It was shown that the distortion and transient stresses of a layer processed by a moving laser beam is decreased with fractal scanning pattern.     

An experimentally based thermo-kinetic phase transformation model for multi-pass laser heat treatment by using high power direct diode laser

Laser-based phase transformation hardening (LPTH), based on rapid heating and cooling cycles produces hard and wear-resistant layers only at the selective region of the components. However, the bulk mass of the material’s core property is retained. The advantages of high power direct diode laser in comparison with other high power lasers (CO₂ and Nd:YAG) have put this type of laser as a main heat source for localized heat treatment. However, a tempered zone is formed in overlapping regions of a large heat-treated area during multi-pass laser heat treatment (MPLHT) that affects the uniformity of heat-treated depth of material. This study is focused on the development of a uniform hardness distribution model to minimize the tempering effect during the MPLHT process. A tool steel AISI S7 is heat treated by using different levels of laser power (1,400–1,800 W) and scanning speeds (15–25 mm/s). An experimentally based finite element (FE) thermal model is developed to predict the cross-sectional as well as surface temperature history of the MPLHT process. The temperature-dependent material properties and phase change kinetics are taken into account in the model. The laser beam is considered as a moving rectangular-shaped heat source (12 mm?×?1 mm) with a uniform distribution (top-hat) of laser power. The temperature history acquired from the FE thermal model is coupled with thermo-kinetic (TK) equations to determine the corresponding phase transformations and hardness. The tempering effect of MPLHT is studied for different sizes of overlap (1 mm–3 mm) and lengths of scan (10 mm–35 mm). The TK model results are verified with experimental ones to optimize the processing parameters. The optimized processing parameters, including laser power, scanning speed, size of overlap, and the length of scan are used to achieve a uniform hardness distribution and an even depth of heat treatment in the MPLHT area.     

防爆柴油机活塞的热载荷响应特性研究

为提升矿用防爆柴油机的换热能力,提出水冷代替油冷方案,对燃烧室内活塞的热载荷响应特性进行了研究与分析.基于CFD方法,建立活塞冷却腔内的气液两相流模型,选用SSTk-ω湍流模型,结合VOF模型和Level Set模型得出不同曲轴转角下的液相比例和对流换热系数变化规律,分析了冷却腔结构对传热效果的影响.构建活塞热机耦合模...     

Numerical modeling to understand liquation cracking propensity during laser and laser hybrid welding (I)

Two-dimensional thermal elasto-plastic model was established by finite element method to investigate weld heat-affected zone (HAZ) liquation cracking behavior during laser and laser–gas metal arc (GMA) hybrid welding nickel-based superalloy. Transient temperature, cooling rate, and stress and strain history were used and combined with solidification theory to analyze the mechanism of liquation cracking in the HAZ. Weld cracking mechanical driving force is related to local stress–strain development at the period of solidification, and stress and strain components were correlated along the fusion boundary of weld pool. Strain rate and weld pool geometry were demonstrated during in the stage of solidification process, which provide valuable insight into the quantitative evaluation the tendency of solidification cracking and give well understanding why laser–GMA welding is beneficial for minimizing cracking susceptibility than laser welding.     

Computational modeling and control system of continuous casting process

A finite difference model was developed and applied to calculate the temperature distribution and solid shell thickness profile of continuous cast in a steel plant and to control the process of continuous casting. In the developed model, the optimization module of the water distribution of secondary cooling zone was established according to the metallurgical criterion for billet and target temperature controlling principle. The quantitative relation expressions of casting speed and water amount can be regressed by the result data. Meanwhile, the non-linear material properties of specific heat and thermal conductivity as well as phase changes during solidification were considered in the model. The calculated results of the model were in good accordance with measured data in the steel plant. Finally, a continuous casting and control system was developed based on the model. The relations between technology parameters including casting speed, cooling intensity, superheat of melt, and the casting process were analyzed with the system. The system could also be used to predict the optimum process parameters and the water distribution of secondary cooling zone on the new steel grade continuous casting.     

Simulation of the continuous casting process by a mathematical model

A computational three-dimensional (3D) heat transfer model has been developed and applied to calculate the temperature distribution and solid shell thickness profile of a continous cast slab in a steel plant. This developed model includes non-linear material properties of specific heat and thermal conductivity as well as phase changes during solidification. A general thermo-fluidmechanics computer program, PHOENICS, was employed to numerically solve the heat transfer equation with the associated source terms. The thermal profile and solid shell thickness calculated by mathematical model agree with those predicted by an industrial model and experimental measurements. The model could also be used to predict the optimum process parameters on casting speed, heat removal rates and associated water flow rates and roll force. These parameters could be monitored by suitable sensors and controlled through a feed back system that interfaced with the mathematical model and the sensors.     

Microstructural evolvement and formation of selective laser melting W–Ni–Cu composite powder

W–Ni–Cu alloy (90 wt% W, 7.5 wt% Ni, and 2.5 wt% Cu) parts were successfully fabricated via selective laser melting method. Phases, microstructure, compositions, and laser forming parameters of laser melted samples were investigated. It was found that the W–Ni–Cu powder system was based on the mechanism of liquid solidification. This process was realized through full melting of W, Ni, and Cu particles under high laser energy input. However, using relatively lower energy input, particle bonding was realized through liquid phase sintering with complete melting of Ni–Cu acting as binder and nonmelting of W acting as structure. Due to the Ni–Cu solid solution phase that appeared in a wide range from 1,084 to 1,455 °C, a coherent matrix interface can be observed after solidification. The microhardness of laser-fabricated specimens varied with different powder layer thicknesses, resulting from the laser-treated condition and ability of trapped air in the loose powder bed to escape. The metallurgical mechanisms were also addressed.     

Low temperature light microscopy and its application to study freezing in aqueous solutions and biological cell suspensions

The freezing of biological cell suspensions can be understood in terms of ice formation in the external suspension medium and the cellular reactions to the changing environment. Cryomicroscopy allows a quantitative analysis of both categories of phenomena. Besides freezing stages of appropriate thermal design, the components used for that purpose include a microcomputer (PSI 80) based control system, an image analysis system (Intellect 100) and a spectrophotometer (MPV compact). The investigation of extracellular ice formation is focused on the following effects: The redistribution of solutes in the residual liquid and the resulting concentration profiles are determined photometrically or densitometrically. The transitions between various morphologies of the ice–liquid phase boundary (planar–cellular–dendritic) can be related to interface instability theories. With respect to solute segregation, the studies also involve the formation of bubbles from supersaturated gaseous solutes and freezing potentials resulting from the differential incorporation of cations and anions into the solid phase. The interaction between particles or cells and the advancing ice front is determined from critical interface velocities marking the transition between repulsion and entrapment. The effects of freezing on biological cells are studied mainly with blood cells, especially lymphocytes. The water efflux due to osmotical gradients across the membrane yields volume shrinkage curves which are recorded and analysed from video images for various cooling rates. Beyond a certain threshold cooling rate, intracellular ice starts to form, and different crystallization morphologies can be detected. The intracellular crystallization temperatures depend on cooling and warming rates as well as on the presence of penetrating cryoadditives. A fluorescence viability is used to determine the percentage of damaged cells immediately after thawing.     

Investigating surface roughness of parts produced by SLS process

Selective laser sintering (SLS) has been recognized as one of the best rapid prototyping (RP) technique for producing solid models, directly from computer-aided design data by fussing together different layers with the help of laser light. Further, RP has traditionally been used for producing a solid model for visualization purpose and assessing kinematic functionality. So, the model is required to have superior mechanical integrity and surface quality for handling and model testing. This study investigates surface roughness (SR) of parts produced by SLS process. The empirical models have been purposed to predict the feasibility of different process parameters viz., laser power, scan spacing, bed temperature, hatch length, and scan count on SR. Further, these parameters have been optimized using face-centered central composite design with response surface methodology. The optimized parameters have been verified by conducting confirmation experiments.     

Influence of process parameters on part shrinkage in SLS

Shrinkage, one of the typical phenomena in the selective laser sintering (SLS) process, affects the final dimensional accuracy of SLS products. We investigated the relationship between the shrinkage and the process parameters of SLS in order to improve dimensional accuracy. According to the characteristic of SLS, the following process parameters are considered: layer thickness, hatch spacing, laser power, scanning speed, temperature of working environment, interval time and scanning mode. A neural network model on the relationship between the processing parameters and shrinkage was built on the basis of a series of experiments. The experimental investigation results show that the neural network model is possible to be used to predict the effects of the process parameters on the shrinkage with reasonable accuracy and to analyze the relationship between the shrinkage and the process parameters of SLS quantitatively. So it is suitable to apply neural networks approach to study the SLS process. This model will allow us to produce the SLS parts with the desired quality attributed by selecting the appropriate parameter values prior the processing. This paper proposes a promising approach to improve the accuracy of the SLS part.     

304不锈钢表面离散圆形凹坑液相辅助激光制备及摩擦性能

为改善304不锈钢耐磨性及润湿性，在空气与液相2种介质下使用激光加工技术在304不锈钢表面制备离散型圆形凹坑织构。借助白光干涉仪、扫描电子显微镜及能谱、接触角测量仪对织构试样表面形貌、元素含量及润湿性进行了表征，并通过摩擦磨损试验考察了织构试样在干摩擦和油润滑下的摩擦学性能。结果表明：空气介质下激光加工增强了试样表面疏水性能，接触角为123.3°；液相辅助激光加工增强了试样表面润湿性，接触角为29.3°；液相辅助激光加工表面的微凹坑分布更加均匀，无明显的氧化及熔融物重铸现象，这是因为液相在激光加工时对试样起到了冷却及保护作用；液相辅助激光加工表面织构在2种摩擦工况下的摩擦因数均最小，且磨损有一定改善。液相辅助激光制备的织构表面较为均匀、无较大的微凸峰，且具有较好的润湿性能，有利于润滑油的存储及铺展，进而改善了界面摩擦行为。     

Development and application of copper–nickel zirconium diboride as EDM electrodes manufactured by selective laser sintering

The production of electrical discharge machining (EDM) electrodes by conventional machining processes can account for over 50 % of the total EDM process costs. The emerging additive manufacturing (AM) technologies provide the possibility of direct fabrication of EDM electrodes. Selective laser sintering (SLS) is an alternative AM technique because it has the possibility to reduce the tool-room lead time and total EDM costs. The main difficulty of manufacturing an EDM electrode using SLS is the selection of an appropriate material. This work investigated the direct production of EDM electrodes by means of the SLS using a newly developed non-conventional metal–matrix composite material composed of a metallic matrix (CuNi) and an advanced ceramic (ZrB₂). The influence of important SLS parameters and material content on the densification behavior and porosity of the electrodes was investigated. EDM experiments were conducted to observe the electrodes behavior and performance. It was found that the ZrB₂-CuNi electrodes could be successfully manufactured by SLS. Interlayer bonding and porosity are directly influenced by the layer thickness. Smaller layer thicknesses improved bonding between layers and decreased the porosity of the parts. The laser scan speed has a significant effect on the densification behavior. The scan line spacing affects the pore structure by means of overlapping. The surface morphology of the samples was not affected by varying the scan line spacing. The ZrB₂-CuNi electrodes presented a much superior performance than SLS copper powder electrodes, but inferior to solid copper electrodes.     

Indirect selective laser sintering of an apatite-mullite glass-ceramic for potential use in bone replacement applications

The feasibility of using indirect selective laser sintering (SLS) to produce parts from glass-ceramic materials for bone replacement applications has been investigated. A castable glass based on the system SiO2 x Al2O3 x P2O5 x CaO x CaF2 that crystallizes to a glass-ceramic with apatite and mullite phases was produced, blended with an acrylic binder, and processed by SLS. Green parts with good structural integrity were produced using a wide range of processing conditions, allowing both monolayer and multilayer components to be constructed. Following SLS the parts were post-processed to remove the binder and to crystallize fully the material, evolving the apatite and mullite phases. The parts were heated to 1200 degrees C using a number of different time-temperature profiles, following which the processed material was analysed by differential thermal analysis, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy, and tested for flexural strength. An increase in strength was achieved by infiltrating the brown parts with a resorbable phosphate glass, although this altered the crystal phases present in the material.     

基于SLS／SRW工艺的快速成形机研制

在传统的激光快速成形工艺的基础上,提出了利用选择性电阻焊（SRW）结合选择性激光烧结（sLS）进行快速成形的新方法并基于SIS及SRW技术研制了金属粉末快速成形样机。详细阐述了J10-SLS／SRW-Y180／DR5-B2525型快速成形机的机械结构和电气控制系统;讨论了该机的成形工艺以及目前所面临的问题及其解决方法。     

The use of computational fluid dynamics to study furnace effects in ITS-90 fixed points realizations

Together with the impurities, the thermal fluxes are one of the major sources of uncertainty during the realization of the International Temperature Scale of 1990 (ITS-90) defining fixed points. The use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a valuable tool to develop models that describe the time evolution of the phase transformation (essentially the evolution of the solid–liquid interface) as a function of given theoretical assumptions and given parameters (furnace thermal gradients, freezing initiation, ambient temperature and insulation). The models can be validated by observing the impact of the selected parameters on the observed corresponding melting curves and used to achieve a full understanding of these thermal effects and their impact on uncertainty. This paper proposes an ITS-90 metallic fixed points CFD model together with some results about the influence of the furnace thermal gradients and the freezing initiation techniques.     

Investigation into the selective laser sintering of styrene–acrylonitrile copolymer and postprocessing

The amorphous polymer of polystyrene (PS) has been widely used in the selective laser sintering (SLS) process. However, PS is not suitable to make parts with thin-wall or delicate structures because of the poor mechanical properties of its SLS parts. Therefore, styrene–acrylonitrile copolymer (SAN), another kind of amorphous polymers, was investigated as an SLS material. The effects of laser energy density on the relative density, mechanical properties, and dimensional accuracy of the SLS parts were studied, and the properties of PS and SAN SLS parts were compared. The postprocessing method of infiltrating with epoxy resin was used to reinforce the green SAN SLS parts. The results show that there is little difference in the relative density between the SAN and PS SLS parts, while the flexural strength of the SAN SLS specimens is obviously higher than that of the PS SLS specimens at the same energy density. After the postprocessing, the flexural strength, flexural modulus, and impact strength of the SAN SLS specimens increase by 133%, 4394%, and 254%, respectively, and the SLS parts maintain relatively high-dimensional accuracy although slight shrinkage occurs due to epoxy resin cure. SAN can be used to fabricate SLS parts with more complex and delicate structures.