Interplay between temperature oscillations and melt-pool dynamics in 3D-manufacturing techniques
Phys. Rev. Applied 25, 034012 – Published 4 March, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/sj3d-ghlg
Abstract
The aim of this paper is coupling of temperature oscillations and melt-pool dynamics experimentally observed in laser melting. The literature survey has shown that the developed explanations are mainly focused on the capillary and hydrodynamic aspects of the problem. As shown, complete analysis is only possible if the temperature oscillations are properly accounted for. Specifically, this effect is a governing mechanism that controls the melt-pool dynamics via feedback coupling of heating, evaporation, capillarity, and free-surface contraction. The present study suggests a physically consistent model validated on the detailed data of the time-resolved absorptance measured in Simonds et al. [Phys. Rev. Appl. 10, 044061 (2018)]. An analytical equation is derived for oscillation spectra within this approach. It has been proved that the surface oscillations can be initiated without the keyhole effect. However, keyhole formation can cause additional modes to appear in the oscillation spectrum. The practical results include the formulas that are convenient for real-time monitoring of the surface temperature and characteristic flow velocity in the molten pool using the measured absorptance spectra. The impact of the temperature coefficient of surface tension on the maximal temperature, pool length, natural frequency of the free-surface oscillations, and attenuation coefficient is thoroughly studied. All results are presented as closed-form formulas suitable for design of industrial laser systems.
