Parametric thermal analysis of a single molten metal droplet as applied to layered manufacturing

In the present study a parametric thermal
analysis of a single molten metal droplet deposited on a
large substrate has been performed with application to
various solid freeform fabrication (SFF) processes
employing droplet-based deposition. Simulation is conducted
to investigate the effect of droplet shape, substrate
thermal properties, substrate size and thermal
boundary conditions of substrate base on the cooling
rate of the droplet and the substrate. It is found that
droplet shape and substrate thermal properties have
significant effect only on the solidification time, whereas
the steady-state conditions vary significantly with all the
process parameters studied.