The role of the carrier gas flow in directed energy deposition

Laser Powder-Directed Energy Deposition (LP-DED) is a metal Additive Manufacturing (AM) technique that can build, repair, and remanufacture metal components. The aim of this study was to investigate the physical contribution of the carrier gas flow in the building process. Several cubes were built with different levels of the carrier gas flow given the powder mass flow rate. The specimens were built on the same material. The final height of each cube was measured to estimate the influence of the carrier gas on the deposition. Based on the data analysis, it was possible to find out that the gas flow levels highly contribute, from the energetic point of view, to the melt pool process. Moreover, this study allowed improving the deposition efficiency in building cubes in AISI 316L steel with argon as the carrier gas.