Melt Pool Flow and Surface Evolution During Pulsed Laser Micro Polishing of Ti6Al4V

Author(s):  
Chao Ma ◽  
Madhu Vadali ◽  
Neil A. Duffie ◽  
Frank E. Pfefferkorn ◽  
Xiaochun Li

Extensive experimental work has shown that pulsed laser micro polishing (PLμP) is effective for polishing micro metallic parts. However, the process physics have not been fully understood yet, especially with respect to the melt pool flow. A reliable physical model can be of significant assistance in understanding the fluid flow in the melt pool and its effect on PLμP. In this paper, a two-dimensional axisymmetric transient model that couples heat transfer and fluid flow is described that was constructed using the finite element method. The model not only provided the solutions to the temperature and velocity fields but also predicted the surface profile evolution on a free deformable surface. The simulated melt depth and resolidified surface profiles matched those obtained from optical images of PLμPed Ti6Al4V sample cross-sections. The model was also used to study the effect of laser pulse duration on the melt pool flow. The study suggests that longer pulses produce more significant fluid flows. The cut-off pulse duration between capillary and thermocapillary regimes, below which minimal Maragoni flow should be expected, was estimated to be 0.66 μs for Ti6Al4V, which also matched well with the experimental results. It is evident that the coupled model offers reliable predictions and thus can be extended for a more complex parametric study to provide further insights for PLμP.

Author(s):  
Chao Ma ◽  
Madhu Vadali ◽  
Neil A. Duffie ◽  
Frank E. Pfefferkorn ◽  
Xiaochun Li

Extensive experimental work has shown that pulsed laser micro polishing (PLμP) is effective for polishing micro metallic parts. However, the process physics have not been fully understood yet, especially with respect to the melt pool flow. A reliable physical model can be of significant assistance in understanding the fluid flow in the melt pool and its effect on PLμP. In this paper, a two-dimensional axisymmetric transient model that couples heat transfer and fluid flow is described that was constructed using the finite element method. The model not only provided the solutions to the temperature and velocity fields but also predicted the surface profile evolution on a free deformable surface. The simulated melt depth and resolidified surface profiles matched those obtained from optical images of PLμPed sample cross-sections. The model was also used to study the effect of laser pulse duration on the melt pool flow. The study suggests that longer pulses produce more significant fluid flows. The cut-off pulse duration below which minimal fluid flows should be expected was estimated to be 0.66 μs for Ti6Al4V, which also matched well with the experimental results. It is evident that the coupled model offers reliable predictions and thus can be extended for a more complex parametric study to provide further insights for PLμP.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Utsavkumar Mistry ◽  
Madhu Vadali

Pulsed laser surface melting (pLSM) is a technique that offers an efficient and effective way to modify the geometry surfaces without any addition or removal of material. The resultant surface geometry plays a critical role in several applications. This paper presents a steady-state thin-film approximation of the melt pool created by pLSM and the resulting semi-analytical solution for the evolved surface geometry. These predictions of the semi-analytical solution are then compared with a validated numerical solution. The comparison demonstrates a good match with errors ranging from ~4% to ~25% across several pulse duration. Larger errors are observed at comparatively lower and higher pulse duration, and smaller errors are observed for intermediate pulse duration values. Overall, the thin film solution is a reasonable and useful approximation of the evolved surface geometry through the pLSM process, thus saving significant computational costs.


Author(s):  
Ianto Martins ◽  
Arthur Pandolfo da Veiga ◽  
Eduardo Alves ◽  
Jader Barbosa

2005 ◽  
Vol 127 (9) ◽  
pp. 978-986 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Choi ◽  
L. Han ◽  
Y. Hua

Laser aided Directed Material Deposition (DMD) is an additive manufacturing process based on laser cladding. A full understanding of laser cladding is essential in order to achieve a steady state and robust DMD process. A two dimensional mathematical model of laser cladding with droplet injection was developed to understand the influence of fluid flow on the mixing, dilution depth, and deposition dimension, while incorporating melting, solidification, and evaporation phenomena. The fluid flow in the melt pool that is driven by thermal capillary convection and an energy balance at the liquid–vapor and the solid–liquid interface was investigated and the impact of the droplets on the melt pool shape and ripple was also studied. Dynamic motion, development of melt pool and the formation of cladding layer were simulated. The simulated results for average surface roughness were compared with the experimental data and showed a comparable trend.


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 393
Author(s):  
Jiantao Zhou ◽  
Xu Han ◽  
Hui Li ◽  
Sheng Liu ◽  
Shengnan Shen ◽  
...  

Laser polishing is a widely used technology to improve the surface quality of the products. However, the investigation on the physical mechanism is still lacking. In this paper, the established numerical transient model reveals the rough surface evolution mechanism during laser polishing. Mass transfer driven by Marangoni force, surface tension and gravity appears in the laser-induced molten pool so that the polished surface topography tends to be smoother. The AlSi10Mg samples fabricated by laser-based powder bed fusion were polished at different laser hatching spaces, passes and directions to gain insight into the variation of the surface morphologies, roughness and microhardness in this paper. The experimental results show that after laser polishing, the surface roughness of Ra and Sa of the upper surface can be reduced from 12.5 μm to 3.7 μm and from to 29.3 μm to 8.4 μm, respectively, due to sufficient wetting in the molten pool. The microhardness of the upper surface can be elevated from 112.3 HV to 176.9 HV under the combined influence of the grain refinement, elements distribution change and surface defects elimination. Better surface quality can be gained by decreasing the hatching space, increasing polishing pass or choosing apposite laser direction.


VLSI Design ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 6 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 379-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ganesh Rajagopalan ◽  
Vadali Mahadev ◽  
Timothy S. Cale

We discuss our approach to using the Riemann problem to compute surface profile evolution during the simulation of deposition, etch and reflow processes. Each pair of segments which represents the surface is processed sequentially. For cases in which both segments are the same material, the Riemann problem is solved. For cases in which the two segments are different materials, two Riemann problems are solved. The material boundary is treated as the right segment for the left material and as the left segment for the right material. The critical equations for the analyses are the characteristics of the Riemann problem and the ‘jump conditions’ which represent continuity of the surface. Examples are presented to demonstrate selected situations. One limitation of the approach is that the velocity of the surface is not known as a function of the surface angle. Rather, it is known for the angles of the left and right segments. The rate as a function of angle must be assumed for the explicit integration procedure used. Numerical implementation is briefly discussed.


2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 667-678 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Nowruzi ◽  
H. Ghassemi

AbstractNano-nozzles are an essential part of the nano electromechanical systems (NEMS). Cross-sectional geometry of nano-nozzles has a significant role on the fluid flow inside them. So, main purpose of the present study is related to the effects of different symmetrical cross-sections on the fluid flow behavior inside of nano-nozzles. To this accomplishment, five different cross-sectional geometries (equilateral triangle, square, regular hexagon, elliptical and circular) are investigated by using molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. In addition, TIP4P is used for atomistic water model. In order to evaluate the fluid flow behavior, non-dimensional physical parameters such as Fanning friction factor, velocity profile and density number are analyzed. Obtained results are shown that the flow behavior characteristics appreciably depend on the geometry of nano-nozzle's cross-section. Velocity profile and density number for five different cross sections of nano-nozzle at three various measurement gauges are presented and discussed.


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