Evaluation of the effective thermal conductivity of the unmelted powder particles during the electron beam powder bed fusion (EB-PBF) process

The thermal conductivity of the unmelted powder particles in an electron beam powder bed fusion (EB-PBF) process is mainly determined by its sintering degree. A proper thermal conductivity is required to dissipate the heat generated during the melting and improve the beam matter interaction. In this work, the thermal conductivity is evaluated by image-based methodologies and thermal diffusion simulations. The effective neck growth and dimension are numerically calculated using phase field sintering simulations. The proposed methodology is able to provide crucial insight for the process optimisation without performing any experiment.