A flash-based thermal simulation of scanning paths in LPBF additive manufacturing

Purpose This paper aims to propose an analytical thermal three-dimensional model that allows an efficient evaluation of the thermal effect of the laser-scanning path. During manufacturing by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF), the laser-scanning path influences the thermo-mechanical behavior of parts. Therefore, it is necessary to validate the path generation considering the thermal behavior induced by this process to improve the quality of parts. Design/methodology/approach The proposed model, based on the effect of successive thermal flashes along the scanning path, is calibrated and validated by comparison with thermal results obtained by FEM software and experimental measurements. A numerical investigation is performed to compare different scanning path strategies on the Ti6Al4V material with different stimulation parameters. Findings The simulation results confirm the effectiveness of the approach to simulate the thermal field to validate the scanning strategy. It suggests a change in the scale of simulation thanks to high-performance computing resources. Originality/value The flash-based approach is designed to ensure the quality of the simulated thermal field while minimizing the computational cost.