Heat Transfer and Thermocapillary Convection during the Laser Deposition of Metal Powders Implemented in Additive Technologies

Heat-transfer- and thermocapillary-convection macroprocesses observed during direct laser metal deposition (DLMD) with coaxial powder injection are examined. The study is performed using the 3D mathematical model incorporating self-consistent equations for free surface evolution, heat transfer, and hydrodynamics, which allow for powder-particle embedding into the thermocapillary convection zone under DLMD. The processes under consideration refer to the main ones underlying additive laser technologies, which determine the microstructural properties and quality of synthesized parts. The convection-diffusion equations are numerically solved using the final volume method. Calculations are carried out for the thermocapillary convection of H13 steel powder. The influence of laser-radiation characteristics (power, scanning rate, intensity distribution in the beam) and the powder-mass flow velocity on temperature fields, the structure of convective melt flow (including a maximum melt velocity), and the geometric characteristics (height and width) of the object formed is investigated.