Simulation of sintering process/melting of particles

Submitted by Termo on Mon, 11/14/2016 - 21:22

Dear all

I would like to use this tool for investigation of the sintering process of polymer particles (SLS). I have setup up my initial powder bed and I am also able to heat up the particles by setting a heatsource that I move along the surface (the laser spot). The next step will be to take into account the heat of fusion. I can not see any obvious way to implement this.

Are there anyone that have worked on anything similar, or who have an idea on how to model this. Should I move into the coupling with CFD, and if yes how?

Best regards
Rasmus

ckloss's picture

ckloss | Mon, 11/21/2016 - 21:05

Hi Rasmus,

I would not recommend to couple to CFD in the first step. The way to go would probably be to have a region moving through the simulation domain, and apply particle cohesion/bonds for all particles which are within that region. In a first step you might even neglect the heat transfer

This will require some coding

Christoph