Simulation of the Laser Powder Bed Fusion Process to Predict Part Distortion

This presentation was made at the 2019 NAFEMS World Congress in Quebec Canada

Resource Abstract

With the continuous emergence of Additive Manufacturing (AM), the simulation of the Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) process has become a key factor to sustain its research and development. In this context, commercial software packages have been recently brought to the LPBF users with the objective of helping them to deepen their understanding of the process and assist in the design of AM parts. More specifically, these simulation-based test platforms can predict the layer-by-layer distortions and residual stresses in a part and thus reduce build failures and physical trial-and-error experiments. In the framework of this project, the distortion prediction capability of ANSYS Additive Print is experimentally validated using a three-step approach:



1. The first step, the calibration, allows the software configuration for a given LPBF system and powder (i.e. an EOSINT M 280 400-Watt Ytterbium fiber laser system with EOS Aluminum AlSi10Mg powder). To this end, the geometry-based calibration artifacts are manufactured.



2. The second step, a sensitivity study, allows the fine-tuning of the software. To this end, additional samples are manufactured and their distortions along different axes and at various locations are measured and compared to the results of simulations.



3. The third step, the validation, allows testing the distortion prediction capability of the software by manufacturing a benchmark part embedding some specific design features that usually cause part distortions.



While this study is still underway, preliminary results showed a good agreement between the predicted and measured distortions for the calibration artifacts.