| Abstract Scope |
Wetting behavior plays a critical role in melt pool stability, interlayer bonding, and defect formation in laser metal additive manufacturing (AM). In this work, a combined physics-informed scaling-law and computational modeling framework is developed to predict contact angle and characterize melt pool behavior across multiple metallic material systems. Dimensionless geometric descriptors derived from measurable melt pool features, including melt pool depth, width, height, and cross-sectional area, are used to formulate generalized power-law scaling relationships for contact angle prediction. In parallel, computational fluid dynamics (CFD)-based thermal simulations are performed to model melt pool evolution and thermal behavior during processing. Experimental single-track data are used to validate the numerical predictions and evaluate the transferability of the proposed framework across different materials and processing conditions. The results demonstrate the potential of combining data-driven scaling laws with thermal modeling to support process understanding and parameter optimization in laser metal AM. |