The effects of the uncertainties of various parameters, including the laser fluence, diameter of metal powder particles, laser pulse width, and the initial temperature of metal particles on solid-liquid-vapor phase change processes of metal particles under nanosecond laser heating are investigated in this paper. A systematic approach of simulating the phase change with uncertain parameters is presented and a sampie-based stochastic model is established in order to investigate the influence of different uncertain parameters on the maximum surface temperature of metal particles, the maximum solid-liquid interface location, maximum liquid-vapor interface location, maximum saturation temperature, and maximum recoil pressure and the time needed to reach the maximum solid-liquid interface location. The results show that the mean value and standard deviation of the laser fluence have dominant effects on all output parameters.The phase change of a single metal powder particle under nanosecond laser heating will be investigated. When the laser beam scans across the powder bed, it penetrates into the powder bed and a reflection takes place at the surface of metal particles. Mutual
Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering