ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING LETTERS, cilt.17, 2026 (ESCI, Scopus)
Melt pool instabilities limit the reliability of additive manufacturing. Here, we demonstrate that a minimal Buckingham-pi framework, supplemented by a normalized enthalpy (NE) metric, consolidates process outcomes across heat source settings (power, speed, spot) and material properties. IN738LC was processed on an EOS M290; single-track and bulk responses, melt pool geometric features, part relative density (rho*), and areal roughness parameters S-a and S-z, were quantified and subsequently mapped onto compact NE-dimensionless number spaces after the normalized-enthalpy metric had been calibrated using an effective absorptivity inferred from the measured melt pool depth. The recoil number cleanly delineates modes: Recoil less than or similar to 2 (conduction -> stable keyhole) maintains rho* greater than or similar to 99% with low S-a, whereas Recoil greater than or similar to 4-5 marks an unstable keyhole with spatter and porosity. Within this map, favorable transport balances are Re less than or similar to 100, We < 1, small Ca and not-too-small Oh, and Fo>0.1; external convection remains negligible (Nu << 1). Rather than VED, we advocate working directly in Pi-space (NE, Recoil, Re, We, Ca, Oh, Fo, Nu)-to define, compare, and transfer qualifiable process windows across machines and alloys.