Mesoscale modelling of laser powder-based directed energy deposition process

Laser Powder-based Directed Energy Deposition (LP-DED) process is a cutting-edge Additive Manufacturing (AM) technology for metal part repair and production. The disruptive potentialities of LP-DED are nowadays limited by the difficulty in the identification of the optimized set of process parameters, typically obtained from long and expensive experimental trials. In this work, a thermal simulation tool able to predict material deposition behaviour is developed using a finite element code. An original method is defined to model the material addition and energy flow. The forecasting capabilities of the model in terms of penetration depth and track dimensions are evaluated by comparing the numerical outcomes with experimental data.