Effect of substrate temperature on the interface bond between support and substrate during selective laser melting of Al–Ni–Y–Co–La metallic glass

An Al–Ni–Y–Co–La metallic glass was laser-melted onto an Al substrate which was at two different temperatures: 25 °C and 250 °C. It was found that the substrate temperature played a critical role in determining the interface bonding between substrate and support and final solidification microstructures. The higher substrate temperature resulted in the formation of a stronger interface bond between metallic glass and substrate while lower substrate temperature resulted in the formation of a weaker interface bond. This has been attributed to different cooling rates and thermal histories present in the two cases. A multi-physics-based computational model based on the heat transfer theory in heat transient mode of COMSOL™ was introduced to explain the underlying mechanism.