Enhancing Selective Laser Melting Quality of High-Performance Aluminum Alloys Through Laser Parameter Optimization: A Coupled Multiphysics Simulation Study

Laser additive manufacturing (AM) technology has become an important method for the manufacturing of high-performance aluminum alloy parts. However, the thermal effect of the molten pool and the defect formation mechanism are still the key issues restricting forming quality. To address this issue, this paper systematically investigates the effects of key parameters such as laser power and pulse frequency on the thermal conductivity, kinetic behavior, and defect control of the molten pool through multi-physics coupled numerical simulation to provide theoretical support for improving the quality of components. It is found that the laser power and pulse frequency play a key role in the molten pool morphology and defect generation, with too low a power leading to non-fusion and too high a power triggering overheating and cracking, and too low a frequency leading to unstable morphology and too high a frequency triggering grain coarsening and thermal stress cracking. The optimized process parameters (power 700–800 W, frequency 72–100 KHz) effectively improved the melt pool morphology and reduced the defects. This study reveals the intrinsic mechanism of melt pool dynamics and defect formation, which provides important instructions for optimizing the aluminum alloy additive manufacturing process.