Chair of Aerodynamics and Fluid Mechanics

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Technical University of Munich

Shielding-gas-flow optimization for a novel SLM device

Semester thesis, Master’s thesis

Additive manufacturing technologies play a vital role for the future of manufacturing. In laser-based powder-bed
fusion of metals, the shielding gas is of particular interest for process optimization. It prevents oxidation and re-
moves by-products, which otherwise may locally contaminate the powder bed. Numerical simulation may serve
as helpful tool during the design stage to optimize the flow field inside the process chamber, which may result in
improved part quality.

In your work, you will design a numerical model for fluid simulations of the shielding-gas flow in the process
chamber of a newly-designed, fully accessible 3D printer. The goal is to enhance understanding of the effects
of chamber geometry and nozzle configuration on shielding-gas flow patterns. In the end, a workflow is to be
generated, which provides design suggestions for the shielding-gas flow system of the device. Your ideas and
developed solutions will be incorporated in the design by a student team that currently works on manufacturing
this device at iwb, and with which you will closely cooperate throughout your thesis.

Required qualifications: What you learn:

• Ability to work independently. • In-depth knowledge of additive-manufacturing

processes.
• Interest in Computational Fluid Dynamics.
• CFD model development - from the CAD file to
• Experience in ANSYS CFX or other CFD flow-field data.
software.
• Working in an interdisciplinary team.
• Experience in working with Linux is
advantageous, but not mandatory.

Contact:
Jakob Kaiser
jakob.kaiser@tum.de
www.mw.tum.de/aer