MTL member Emmanouil L. Papazoglou has successfully defended his PhD thesis titled: “Methodology for microscale modeling of the SLM process by using FEM”.

The main novel contributions of his work can be summarized as:

1. Development and validation of a 3D thermal model with an uncomplicated volumetric heat source that efficiently simulates and predicts the geometrical characteristics of the melt pool under Conduction Mode.
2. Development and validation of a 3D thermal model that utilizes deformed geometry feature to model and simulate the geometrical characteristics of the melt pool under Conduction, Transition and Keyhole Modes considering the material ablation.
3. Reduction of the 3D thermal model to a 2D thermal model for a quicker estimation of the material ablation rate and the main geometrical characteristics of the melt pool.
4. Proposed a possible approach to simulate the different material phases (solid – semiliquid – liquid) when the fluid dynamics equations are integrated and solved by a thermohydraulic model.

Three excellent papers have already been published from this work.