Simulation of the selective laser sintering/melting process of bioactive glass 45S5

Abstract

Additive manufacturing processes, including selective laser sintering (SLS) and selective laser melting (SLM), are rapidly developing industrial fields that require scientific support. Although SLS and SLM are very similar, the level of modeling and simulation of SLM is much higher than that of SLS. This results in the number of publications before 2024 according to Web of Science with SLM simulation approximately five times more than with SLS. To test the possibility of adequate SLS simulations, a platform based on the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM), previously developed and applied to model the SLM process, was used. In addition, the possibility of modeling similar processes (SLM, SLS, and SLS/SLM) using the same modeling tool on the same modeling platform is important. The objective of this paper is to present a model of the SLS process and confirmation of the possibility of using LBM for simulation of the SLS process. A simulation of SLS and SLM with the use of LBM, and qualitative comparison of the results of these simulation for bioactive glass 45S5 is the basis of the methodology used for the research. The simulation presented in this study confirmed the possibility of simulating SLM, SLS processes using common principles, approaches, and models. The results of SLS process simulations can be treated as qualitative and require further verification, whereas SLM simulations have been previously verified. The application of the lattice Boltzmann method, which is a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method, opens the possibility of using almost every CFD method for the simulation of several kinds of SLS, and can accelerate research in this field.