Thermal Behavior and Melt-Pool Dynamics of Cu-Cr-Zr Alloy in Powder-Bed Selective Laser Melting Process

Selective laser melting (SLM) is a growing additive manufacturing (AM) technology which is capable of rapidly fabricating functional components in the medical and aviation industries. The thermophysical properties and melt-pool dynamics involved in the powder-bed SLM process play a crucial role to determine the part quality and process optimization. In this study, a 3-D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model with Cu-Cr-Zr (C-18150) powder-bed is developed incorporating a moving conical volumetric heat source and temperature-dependent thermal properties to conduct the Multiphysics simulations of the SLM process. The melt-pool dynamics and its thermal behavior are investigated numerically and results for temperature profile, cooling rate, variation in density, thermal conductivity, specific heat capacity, and velocity in the melt pool are obtained for different laser beam specifications. The validation of the CFD model is conducted by comparing the simulation results for temperature and the melt-front motion with the analytical results found from the classical Stefan problem of the phase-change material. Studying the process parameters, melt-pool geometry, and thermal behavior of Cu-Cr-Zr alloy can generate valuable information to establish Cu-Cr-Zr as a low-cost engineering material in the AM industry.