Optimized thermal gradient by changing temperature parameters for laser-assisted additive manufacturing process based on polyamide-12 powder using numerical model

The laser-assisted additive manufacturing based on the powder is an efficient layer manufacturing process that uses a high-energy laser for the fabrication of polymeric components. The thermal stresses of the laser arise from the thermal gradients generated by the laser and other parameters of the device. Reducing thermal gradients decreases the deformations in the part and increases the fabrication accuracy. The main aim of this paper is to determine the temperature parameters including the preheating temperature or the powder bed temperature, the ambient temperature, scanning power and spot diameter in such a way that the temperature gradient is minimized. The finite element modeling is performed for the selective laser sintering process for polyamide-12 powder. In this paper, thermal gradient by changing temperature parameters based on the temperature model of the finite element and Taguchi experimental design is optimized. In order to reach this aim, the finite element simulation of the selective laser sintering process is first carried out for polyamide-12 powder. In order to verify the simulations, the experimental test is performed by a selective laser sintering device and the obtained results are compared with the finite element model. Then, using the Taguchi method, experiments are designed at the different levels and optimal temperature parameters are obtained. According to obtained results, optimal parameters were obtained to minimize thermal gradients at 451K preheat temperatures, 359K ambient temperature, 10W laser power, and 0.5mm spot diameter.