
Numerical investigations of Dual-laser strategies in Laser Powder Bed Fusion Process
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Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) is an advanced additive manufacturing process known for its ability to produce geometrically complex components with high precision. Beyond geometric flexibility, LPBF also offers significant control over thermal conditions during processing, enabling the tailoring of microstructure and material properties in situ. Recently, dual-laser strategies—where a second laser follows the primary with a defined delay—have been proposed as a method to further influence thermal histories and expand process control. This work presents a numerical study of dual-laser LPBF configurations. The second laser may operate with different power and beam form settings relative to the primary beam. The simulations aim to understand how these variations influence melt pool dimensions, energy distribution, and thermal behavior. The effect of modifying the material absorption coefficient is also investigated to evaluate its impact on thermal response under different laser conditions. A particle-resolved thermal simulation using STAR-CCM+ [1] is used to capture melt pool behavior at the powder scale in detail. In parallel, an in-house developed continuum-level approach based on a finite volume solver with analytical heat source models is explored for a fast screening of process parameter for the second laser. Simulated melt pool geometries are evaluated against reported experimental data from literature. In addition a cross-comparison between the two approaches is used to assess consistency and capture key thermal trends. The goal of this study is to establish a generalized numerical framework for analyzing dual-laser LPBF strategies, providing insight into thermal control possibilities in next-generation additive manufacturing systems.