Brent Stucker

Microstructures and Mechanical Properties of Ti6Al4V Parts Fabricated by Selective Laser Melting and Electron Beam Melting

This work compares two metal additive manufacturing processes, selective laser melting (SLM) and electron beam melting (EBM), based on microstructural and mechanical property evaluation of Ti6Al4V parts produced by these two processes. Tensile and fatigue bars conforming to ASTM standards were fabricated using Ti6Al4V ELI grade material. Microstructural evolution was studied using optical and scanning electron microscopy. Tensile and fatigue tests were carried out to understand mechanical properties and to correlate them with the corresponding microstructure. The results show differences in microstructural evolution between SLM and EBM processed Ti6Al4V and their influence on mechanical properties. The microstructure of SLM processed parts were composed of an α′ martensitic phase, whereas the EBM processed parts contain primarily α and a small amount of β phase. Consequently, there are differences in tensile and fatigue properties between SLM- and EBM-produced Ti6Al4V parts. The differences are related to the cooling rates experienced as a consequence of the processing conditions associated with SLM and EBM processes.

An experimental determination of optimum processing parameters for Al/SiC metal matrix composites made using ultrasonic consolidation

Ultrasonic consolidation, an emerging additive manufacturing technology, is one of the most recent technologies considered for fabrication of metal matrix composites (MMCs). This study was performed to identify the optimum combination of processing parameters, including oscillation amplitude, welding speed, normal force, operating temperature, and fiber orientation, for manufacture of long-fiber-reinforced MMCs. A design of experiments approach (Taguchi L25 orthogonal array) was adopted to statistically determine the influences of individual process parameters. SiC fibers of 0.1 mm diameter were successfully embedded into an Al 3003 metal matrix. Push-out testing was employed to evaluate the bond strength between the fiber and the matrix. Data from push-out tests and microstructural studies were analyzed and an optimum combination of parameters was achieved. The effects of process parameters on bond formation and fiber/matrix bond strength are discussed.

Comparison of 3DSIM thermal modelling of selective laser melting using new dynamic meshing method to ANSYS

Abstract Selective laser melting (SLM) is an additive manufacturing (AM) process in which parts are fabricated by selectively melting regions of the surface of a metallic powder bed in a layer-by-layer fashion. Various thermal phenomena such as heat conduction, convection, radiation, melting and solidification, dynamic phase changes, and evaporation occur during the SLM process. In addition, laser intensity and powder bed scan speeds during processing complicate understanding of the process due to complex dynamic interactions between the powder bed and laser. In order to study these dynamic interactions, a finite element model has been developed which uses a dynamic mesh with spatial non-linear thermal properties to track the point of laser exposure on the powder bed to study thermal evolution during SLM. The model is able to achieve a refined, localised mesh in the melt zone and heat affected zone (HAZ), surrounded by a relatively coarse mesh outside of the HAZ regions. The dynamic meshing for this implementation is achieved using both the sub-modelling functionality in ANSYS and a new set of algorithms being commercialised by 3DSIM, LLC. It was found that dynamic meshing reduces the model size and computational burden. In this paper, the use of the sub-modelling approach for dynamic meshing was verified by comparing it against a uniform fine mesh model. The results of the two models match within an acceptable tolerance. Also, a mesh sensitivity analysis was carried out in order to show solution convergence as a function of increasing mesh density. The results of this analysis were also validated using experiments to show a match between experimental and simulated melt pools. Finally, the ANSYS solution was compared with a new set of dynamic meshing finite element analysis algorithms running in Matlab. It was found that these new algorithms were significantly faster than their ANSYS counterparts for solving problems using a dynamic mesh.

Design for Additive Manufacturing

Design for manufacture and assembly (DFM) has typically meant that designers should tailor their designs to eliminate manufacturing difficulties and minimize manufacturing, assembly, and logistics costs. However, the capabilities of additive manufacturing technologies provide an opportunity to rethink DFM to take advantage of the unique capabilities of these technologies. As mentioned in Chap. 16, several companies are now using AM technologies for production manufacturing. For example, Siemens, Phonak, Widex, and the other hearing aid manufacturers use selective laser sintering and stereolithography machines to produce hearing aid shells; Align Technology uses stereolithography to fabricate molds for producing clear dental braces (“aligners”); and Boeing and its suppliers use polymer powder bed fusion (PBF) to produce ducts and similar parts for F-17 fighter jets. For hearing aids and dental aligners, AM machines enable manufacturing of tens to hundreds of thousands of parts, where each part is uniquely customized based upon person-specific geometric data. In the case of aircraft components, AM technology enables low-volume manufacturing, easy integration of design changes and, at least as importantly, piece part reductions to greatly simplify product assembly.

Use of Friction Surfacing for Additive Manufacturing

In this work, we explore the possibility of utilizing friction surfacing, an emerging solid-state surface coating process, for layer-by-layer manufacture of three-dimensional metallic parts. One possibility in this regard (single-track friction surfacing) is to utilize friction surfacing for depositing a track or layer of material (sufficiently wide to cover the entire layer area), which is subsequently shaped to its corresponding slice counter using CNC machining. Another possibility (multi-track friction surfacing) is to generate a layer from multiple overlapping tracks of friction surfaced material, which is subsequently shaped as required using CNC machining. In the current work, sound multi-layered deposits in various ferrous materials were realized using friction surfacing in both single- and multi-track approaches. Samples with fully enclosed internal cavities and those consisting of different materials in different layers were also successfully produced. The deposits showed fine-grain wrought microstructures with excellent bonding between individual layers and tracks. Basic mechanical properties of these deposits were found to be at par with their standard processed wrought counterparts. Overall, the current work shows that it is possible to develop a uniquely capable new additive manufacturing process based on friction surfacing.

Mechanical Properties and Microstructures of SiC Fiber-reinforced Metal Matrix Composites Made Using Ultrasonic Consolidation

Ultrasonic consolidation was used for making SiC fiber-reinforced Al 3003 matrix composites. Peel tests, tensile tests, and bend tests were carried out on the composite specimens as well as on ultrasonically consolidated Al 3003 specimens containing no SiC fibers. The objective of this study was to examine whether the ultrasonically embedded SiC fibers serve as effective reinforcements or not. Incorporation of SiC fibers resulted in a considerable improvement in peel strength and tensile strength of ultrasonically consolidated parts. However, bend tests revealed some deterioration in the shear strength of the parts due to the presence of fibers. The results of mechanical testing are discussed based on microstructural and fractographic studies.

A Generalized Feed Forward Dynamic Adaptive Mesh Refinement and Derefinement Finite Element Framework for Metal Laser Sintering—Part I: Formulation and Algorithm Development

A novel multiscale thermal analysis framework has been formulated to extract the physical interactions involved in localized spatiotemporal additive manufacturing processes such as the metal laser sintering. The method can be extrapolated to any other physical phenomenon involving localized spatiotemporal boundary conditions. The formulated framework, named feed forward dynamic adaptive mesh refinement and derefinement (FFD-AMRD), reduces the computational burden and temporal complexity needed to solve the many classes of problems. The current study is based on application of this framework to metals with temperature independent thermal properties processed using a moving laser heat source. The melt pool diameters computed in the present study were compared with melt pool dimensions measured using optical micrographs. The strategy developed in this study provides motivation for the extension of this simulation framework for future work on simulations of metals with temperature-dependent material properties during metal laser sintering.

Additive manufacturing with friction welding and friction deposition processes

Most of the commercially available additive manufacturing processes that are meant for fabrication of fully dense metallic parts involve melting and solidification. Consequently, these processes suffer from a variety of metallurgical problems. Processes that can facilitate material addition in solid-state are therefore ideally suited for additive manufacturing. In this work, we explore two new solid-state processes, viz. friction welding and friction deposition, for additive manufacturing. Stainless steel samples produced using these processes showed excellent layer bonding and Z-direction tensile properties. The authors believe that these processes are uniquely capable and can offer significant benefits over existing commercial additive manufacturing processes.

Modelling of ultrasonic consolidation using a dislocation density based finite element framework

A dislocation density based constitutive model has been developed and implemented into a crystal plasticity quasi-static finite element framework. This approach captures the evolution of dislocations and grain fragmentation at the bonding interface when boundary conditions pertaining to the Ultrasonic Consolidation process (UC) are prescribed. The model is initially calibrated using experimental data from published refereed literature for simple shear deformation of a single crystal pure aluminum and uniaxial tension of a polycrystalline Aluminum 3003-H18 alloy. The model has then been extended to predict the results of an Al 3003- H18 alloy undergoing UC. Good agreement between the experimental and simulated results has been observed for the evolution of linear weld density and embrittlement due to grain substructure evolution. For computational time efficiencies, a novel time homogenisation approach has been followed which significantly reduces the computational overhead.

An Efficient Multi-Scale Simulation Architecture for the Prediction of Performance Metrics of Parts Fabricated Using Additive Manufacturing

In this study, an overview of the computational tools developed in the area of metal-based additively manufactured (AM) to simulate the performance metrics along with their experimental validations will be presented. The performance metrics of the AM fabricated parts such as the inter- and intra-layer strengths could be characterized in terms of the melt pool dimensions, solidification times, cooling rates, granular microstructure, and phase morphologies along with defect distributions which are a function of the energy source, scan pattern(s), and the material(s). The four major areas of AM simulation included in this study are thermo-mechanical constitutive relationships during fabrication and in-service, the use of Euler angles for gaging static and dynamic strengths, the use of algorithms involving intelligent use of matrix algebra and homogenization extracting the spatiotemporal nature of these processes, a fast GPU architecture, and specific challenges targeted toward attaining a faster than real-time simulation efficiency and accuracy.