Computational Framework to Evaluate the Relationships between Process Parameters, Grain Structure and Mechanical Properties of Additive Manufactured Materials

• Applicant: Professor Dr.-Ing. Vasily Ploshikhin
• Subject Area: Mechanical Properties of Metallic Materials and their Microstructural Origins ; Metallurgical, Thermal and Thermomechanical Treatment of Materials ; Thermodynamics and Kinetics as well as Properties of Phases and Microstructure of Materials
• Term: from 2017 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 388878396

Additive manufacturing (AM) enabling metal products of highly complex shape to be created directly from CAD data has been gaining significant attention recently. Additive manufactured materials are characterized by complex inhomogeneous microstructure strongly affecting the material properties. In this connection, the prediction of microstructures and mechanical properties of additive manufactured materials is a significant research focus to face the challenge of producing tailored components. Moreover, it may play a key role in the AM process optimization. Modeling of grain structure evolution during AM and further implementation of the AM microstructures in the mechanical simulations will provide a scientific ground for optimization of the AM regimes to improve the microstructure and properties of the manufactured parts. Thus, the development of a reliable and efficient computational framework to evaluate the relationships between process parameters, grain structure and mechanical properties of additive manufactured materials is pursued.The project aims at development and application of a computational approach to the modeling of grain structure formation and evolution during AM of aluminum specimens (DFG) and subsequent simulation of their deformation behavior with an explicit account of the microstructure (RFBR). Selective laser melting (SLM), which involves sequential deposition of powder layers on a polycrystalline substrate followed by their melting, will be examined. The realized methodology will account for the mechanisms of microstructural development and the thermal processes during AM on the mesoscopic scale (DFG). Using the implemented cellular automata-finite difference method, the nature and mechanisms of grain structure evolution in aluminum alloy specimens processed by SLM will be investigated (DFG). Then a set of microstructure-based numerical calculations is planned to study the stress and strain patterns in additive manufactured aluminum specimens under loading on different length scales (RFBR).

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Russia
• Partner Organisation: Russian Foundation for Basic Research
• Cooperation Partner: Professorin Varvara Romanova, Ph.D.