Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Modeling And Experimental Investigation Of Pre-Mixed Multi-Powder Flow In Fabricating Functional Gradient Material By Laser Metal Deposition Process, Wei Li, Jingwei Zhang, Sreekar Karnati, Yunlu Zhang, Frank W. Liou, Joseph William Newkirk, Karen M. Brown Taminger, W. L. Seufzer

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Laser Metal Deposition (LMD) is an effective process to fabricate Functionally Graded Material (FGM) from pre-mixed powders. Since the supplied multi-powder directly affects the deposited FGM’s composition, investigation on Pre-Mixed Multi-Powder (PMMP) flow during LMD is greatly needed. This paper presents a comprehensive numerical PMMP flow model. By solving discrete particle force balance equations coupled with continuity equations and momentum equations for carrier gas, the dynamic behavior of PMMP flow through powder feeder tube and out of nozzle was calculated. With this model, the particle sizes of multi-powder were optimized to obtain considered FGM composition. To verify the modeling results, …