Development of a rapid solidification model for additive manufacturing process and application to Al-Si alloy

Accurate prediction of the solidification microstructure produced by additive manufacturing (AM) process is indispensable for the precise manufacturing process control. In the present study, a simple solidification model that can be applied to the powder bed fusion - laser beam (PBF-LB) process has been developed by integrating conventional and rapid solidification theories in literature. Based on the solidification parameters calculated by Rosenthal equation, the present solidification model can predict the primary dendrite arm spacing (PDAS), primary cell fraction, and solute profile using solute trapping, dendrite tip undercooling, and eutectic undercooling. Single track experiments for Al-12Si binary alloy were also performed to validate the accuracy of the model.