Investigation on the Impact of Textured Array of Recoater on the Powder Layer Quality for Powder Bed Fusion Process
摘要
The demand for industrial-grade additive manufacturing parts of metals is increasing day by day. Powder bed fusion (PBF), a variant of additive manufacturing, appears to be a promising technique to produce such high-quality parts. Powder bed fusion process starts with the spreading of a uniform dense layer of powder over a substrate. This layer is then scanned with some heat source (commonly LASER). The quality of the parts produced primarily depends on the uniformity of the powder layer. A recoating system commonly used for PBF process consists of roller or a doctor blade. In the current study effect of different texture on roller type recoating system is under investigation. Two types of textures are tested, i.e., for first case circular cavity array, for second case circular array protruding outward. The effect of both texture arrays on powder layer quality is determined. The uniformity of powder layer is accessed by quality indices of powder layer. Discrete element simulations are extensively used around the globe to predict the behavior of powder particles specially in case of PBF process. In the current study Altair EDEM software is used to simulate both the cases. To access the uniformity of the powder layer, it is divided into small bins and voidage is calculated in all the bins. A comparative study is made for both cases.