Numerical studies of metal particle behaviors inside the selective laser melting (SLM) chamber through computational fluid dynamics (CFD)

The flow behavior of the shielding gas has been a key factor to improve the quality of products manufactured by the selective laser melting (SLM) technology as it is a major mechanism to remove the ejected metal particles away from the working plane. In this study, to obtain a proper flow field, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) with the application of the Taguchi method was employed to investigate the flow field across the working chamber, with the variations in the geometries of the blowing nozzle, the widths of the suction tunnel, the suction-to-plane distances, and the Reynolds numbers of the blowing flow. The simulation was first verified with experimental measurements. The ejecting motions of the metal powders were also taken into consideration to study the interactions between the shielding gas and the ejected particles. The results demonstrated that axis switching as well as the suction-to-plane distance are the important factors for improving the particle removal efficiency during the SLM operation.