Assessment of simulation tools for the L-PBF process

• Grant number: 24/21877-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: January 01, 2025
• End date: December 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Mechanical Engineering - Manufacturing Processes
• Principal Investigator: Alfredo Rocha de Faria
• Grantee: Luis Henrique Rigon
• Host Institution: Divisão de Engenharia Mecânica (IEM). Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica (ITA). Ministério da Defesa (Brasil). São José dos Campos , SP, Brazil
• Company: Ministério da Defesa (Brasil). Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica (ITA). Divisão de Engenharia Mecânica (IEM)
• Associated research grant: 21/11258-5 - Engineering Research Center for the Aerial Mobility of the Future (ERC-AMF), AP.PCPE

Abstract

Thermal residual stresses and strains arise in Additive Manufacturing (AM) due to the additive nature of the processes in which the base material changes state (e.g., solid to molten to solid) locally, under temperature gradients. Thermal residual stresses can cause premature failure and shape distortion in AM parts, which should be avoided. In this project, finite element simulation tools will be evaluated for the laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) process. The objective is the prediction of thermal residual stresses and distortions in aerospace components produced by additive manufacturing. There are commercial software that simulate MA processes such as Ansys, Simufact and Netfabb. Due to the incremental nature of the simulated processes, where both the material state and the heat source need to be updated in several steps, many analysis iterations may be required to estimate the desired quantities, which is a major problem in terms of computational cost. In this work, the expected results are clear assessments of the advantages and disadvantages of each simulation strategy evaluated, with special attention to possible simplifications of models/hypotheses that could bring gains in terms of saving computational effort.