<p>As a fundamental process of additive manufacturing, spreading a dense powder packing layer is a critical challenge. Besides the powder properties, the blade geometry and deflection capacity play a critical role by means of imposing mechanical enforcement to the spread powders, thereby significantly modifying the final powder packing quality. Here, we did an overall study of various blade types, including traditional vertical blade, slope blade, slope + tail blade, deflectable blade, and roller blade. We found that the slope blade with a low inclined angle (~ 22.5°) can effectively tighten the deposited powder pack so as to enhance the packing density. Meanwhile, a high inclined angle will cause high-stress bands to push powder to move laterally instead of falling to the powder bed, and a threshold of 80nN-band was empirically proposed. With a stretched tail, the slope + tail blade becomes unbeneficial due to the enforcement of additional high stress so that a laterally thin blade is generally preferred. A deflectable blade doesn’t validate an effective result due to the low enforcement to the powder packs. A larger radial size roller without rolling motion is preferred for a dense powder pack. Apart from the characterized results, we have also developed algorithms to incorporate the deflective deformation of deflectable blade and the rolling effect by the roller blade. Furthermore, agreements have been validated between our simulation results and previous literature reports. In summary, our work on blade geometry characterizations provides an in-depth understanding, reveals phenomena mechanism, and demonstrates a process optimization for the powder spread process.</p>