Simulating the sintering of powder particles during the preheating step of Electron Beam Melting process: Review, challenges and a proposal

The powder bed preheating before melting is a distinctive manufacturing step of the Electron Beam Melting (EBM) process. During preheating slight sintering occurs and small necks are formed between neighbouring particles. The necks improve the heat transfer and the powder bed strength allowing a reduction of supports structures and the neutralisation of the so-called smoke. However, preheating may represent over 50% of the total production time. This work investigates the major strategies in literature for preheating phase optimisation and proposes a numerical simulation approach to evaluate the neck growth and the corresponding sintering level.