Rapid Pre-Qualification of the Multi-Laser Powder Bed Fusion Process via Path-Level Thermal History Simulation

Additive Manufacturing (AM) with metals is revolutionizing industries by enabling the production of complex, lightweight, and customized parts with minimal material waste. The scanning path in the powder bed fusion (PBF) process plays a critical role in the thermal history and thus the thermally induced material properties, such as material strength and microstructures. Multi-laser PBF systems have emerged as a critical innovation to enhance productivity, reduce build times, and enable the manufacturing of larger components. For the multi-laser system, it is even more critical to understand the influence of the scanning path in the thermal histories as the multiple lasers introduce a more uneven thermal history that depends on the scanning paths. These challenges need to be addressed for the qualification of the multi-laser AM process. Intact Solutions proposes the development of a thermal history simulation framework tailored for multi-laser PBF platforms. This tool will leverage Intact Solutions’ proprietary Contact-Aware Path-Level (CAPL) discretization technology to deliver path-level predictions of thermal history. By accurately modeling the multi-laser AM process, this tool will provide critical insights for process parameters optimization and defect mitigation. The proposed simulation capability represents a significant step forward in understanding and addressing the complexities of multi-laser AM.