Investigation of dimensional accuracy of metal droplet deposition under repulsion using a lattice Boltzmann approach

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the influence of droplet infiltration and sliding on the deposition size and make a uniform deposition by controlling the interaction between droplets, using the three-dimensional lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) based on the actual working condition.

Design/methodology/approach

D3Q19 Shan-Chen LB approach is developed and optimized based on the metal droplet deposition. The Carnahan-Starling equation of state and transition layers are introduced to maintain the greater stability and low pseudo velocities. In addition, an additional collision term is adopted to implement immersed moving boundary scheme to deal with no-slip boundaries on the front of the phase change.

Findings

The numerical results show that the new¬ incoming droplet wet and slide off the solidified surface and the rejection between droplets are the reasons for the deviation of the actual deposition length. The total length of the longitudinal section negatively correlates with the deposition distance. To improve the dimensional accuracy, the deposition distance and repulsion rate need to be guaranteed. The optimal deposition distance is found to have a negative linear correlation with wettability.

Originality/value

The numerical model developed in this paper will help predict the continuous metal droplet deposition and provide guidance for the selection of deposition distance.

Citation

Ren, Y., Liu, Z., Pang, Y., Wang, X. and Gao, S. (2021), "Investigation of dimensional accuracy of metal droplet deposition under repulsion using a lattice Boltzmann approach", Rapid Prototyping Journal, Vol. 27 No. 5, pp. 1020-1029. https://doi.org/10.1108/RPJ-10-2020-0236