Modeling of the Metal Powder Flow with Carrier Gas in Coaxial Nozzle for Direct Laser Deposition Process

In direct laser deposition process, metal powder is directly fed with carrier gas through the coaxial nozzle into the melt pool created by the laser to form the solid parts. Many operational parameters of the process depend on the characteristic of the powder stream structure below the exit of the coaxial nozzle. In this paper, a computational approach is developed for the simulation of the gas-particle flow in the coaxial nozzle. By taking into account the nozzle geometry and operating parameters, such as width and inclination angle of powder passage and carrier gas velocity, the developed computational code allows the simulation, optimization and control of the delivery of the metal powders.