A three-dimensional thermal finite element model including the effect of the powder-tosolid transition has been developed to investigate the transient temperature distribution during
laser densification of dental powder bed for the layer-by-layer fabrication. The model
encompasses the effects of the temperature- and porosity-dependent thermal conduction and
radiation as well as the temperature-dependent natural convection. The simulation result is
compared with the experiments which establish the temperature dependence of the dental
porcelain microstructure and utilize this dependence to construct the temperature distribution
profile. It is found that the trend of the simulation result matches the experiments very well.The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support provided by
the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos: DMI-9908249 and DMI-0218169.Mechanical Engineerin
