Thermal and Residual Stress Modelling of the Selective Laser Sintering Process

The production of functional tool steel components by selective laser sintering requires an understanding of the effects of the laser processing parameters on the microstructure evolution during the fabrication process. This would allow the production of tools that have predictable and reproducible microstructure, good mechanical properties and low residual stresses. In this paper, finite element modelling has been carried out to investigate the temperature distribution and residual stresses during laser sintering of hot-work tool steel powders. The effects of the laser power and scanning rate on the selective laser sintering process have been investigated. Thermal residual stresses accumulated during the process have been predicted and compared with strain measurements made using neutron diffraction.