Influence of high powder flow dynamics on the efficiency of laser-directed energy deposition

The behavior of powder streams under high-flow conditions remains not fully explored, despite its critical importance for enhancing productivity in modern laser-directed energy deposition (L-DED) processes. This study visualizes powder flow dynamics using area illumination and high-speed imaging. Th...

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Main Authors: Hong Seok Kim, Sang Hu Park
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-07-01
Series:Materials & Design
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264127525005659
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author Hong Seok Kim
Sang Hu Park
author_facet Hong Seok Kim
Sang Hu Park
author_sort Hong Seok Kim
collection DOAJ
description The behavior of powder streams under high-flow conditions remains not fully explored, despite its critical importance for enhancing productivity in modern laser-directed energy deposition (L-DED) processes. This study visualizes powder flow dynamics using area illumination and high-speed imaging. The effects of powder feeding rate (1.5–40.2 g/min) and gas flow rate (0–7 L/min) are systematically investigated. Through image stacking, relative powder concentration and particle velocity are quantified. At low feeding rates, irregular trajectories from shallow bounce angles reduce focusing efficiency. At high feeding rates, intensified inter-particle collisions stabilize trajectories but also lower focusing efficiency due to gas flow deceleration. These findings enable identification of optimal powder–gas flow combinations. Deposition efficiency, evaluated from 42 single-track experiments, strongly correlates with focusing efficiency, though significant deviations occur under high powder flow conditions. A physics-based model is proposed to calculate powder incorporation efficiency into the melt pool as a function of feeding rate and key physical parameters—namely, the melting ratio of in-flight particles, melt pool size, and both the particle count and residence time on the melt pool surface. The results offer actionable insights for optimizing powder delivery and improving overall process efficiency in high-throughput L-DED applications.
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spelling doaj-art-4a5fd13ded404e809d245407276a802b2025-08-20T03:30:49ZengElsevierMaterials & Design0264-12752025-07-0125511414510.1016/j.matdes.2025.114145Influence of high powder flow dynamics on the efficiency of laser-directed energy depositionHong Seok Kim0Sang Hu Park1School of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan National University, Geumjeong-gu, Busan 46241, KoreaCorresponding author.; School of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan National University, Geumjeong-gu, Busan 46241, KoreaThe behavior of powder streams under high-flow conditions remains not fully explored, despite its critical importance for enhancing productivity in modern laser-directed energy deposition (L-DED) processes. This study visualizes powder flow dynamics using area illumination and high-speed imaging. The effects of powder feeding rate (1.5–40.2 g/min) and gas flow rate (0–7 L/min) are systematically investigated. Through image stacking, relative powder concentration and particle velocity are quantified. At low feeding rates, irregular trajectories from shallow bounce angles reduce focusing efficiency. At high feeding rates, intensified inter-particle collisions stabilize trajectories but also lower focusing efficiency due to gas flow deceleration. These findings enable identification of optimal powder–gas flow combinations. Deposition efficiency, evaluated from 42 single-track experiments, strongly correlates with focusing efficiency, though significant deviations occur under high powder flow conditions. A physics-based model is proposed to calculate powder incorporation efficiency into the melt pool as a function of feeding rate and key physical parameters—namely, the melting ratio of in-flight particles, melt pool size, and both the particle count and residence time on the melt pool surface. The results offer actionable insights for optimizing powder delivery and improving overall process efficiency in high-throughput L-DED applications.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264127525005659Additive manufacturingLaser-directed energy depositionPowder flow dynamicsHigh-speed imagingFocusing efficiencyDeposition efficiency
spellingShingle Hong Seok Kim
Sang Hu Park
Influence of high powder flow dynamics on the efficiency of laser-directed energy deposition
Materials & Design
Additive manufacturing
Laser-directed energy deposition
Powder flow dynamics
High-speed imaging
Focusing efficiency
Deposition efficiency
title Influence of high powder flow dynamics on the efficiency of laser-directed energy deposition
title_full Influence of high powder flow dynamics on the efficiency of laser-directed energy deposition
title_fullStr Influence of high powder flow dynamics on the efficiency of laser-directed energy deposition
title_full_unstemmed Influence of high powder flow dynamics on the efficiency of laser-directed energy deposition
title_short Influence of high powder flow dynamics on the efficiency of laser-directed energy deposition
title_sort influence of high powder flow dynamics on the efficiency of laser directed energy deposition
topic Additive manufacturing
Laser-directed energy deposition
Powder flow dynamics
High-speed imaging
Focusing efficiency
Deposition efficiency
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264127525005659
work_keys_str_mv AT hongseokkim influenceofhighpowderflowdynamicsontheefficiencyoflaserdirectedenergydeposition
AT sanghupark influenceofhighpowderflowdynamicsontheefficiencyoflaserdirectedenergydeposition