Higher quality of light weight additively manufactured components Distortion Control

Important results from the project

The present pre-study has contributed to screen of the most relevant traditional techniques and software for distortion analyses and simulation tools, in order to create a fundamental platform for process optimization based on reducing the residual stresses in Additive Manufacturing, and at the same time producing light weight parts with higher quality. Prediction of residual stresses and distortions within AM components has been achieved by coupling extensive experimental data with simulation results for validation purposes.

Expected long term effects

The effect of thick/thin sections on residual stress profiles has been evaluated systematically by traditional methods on defined geometries and AM components, and compared to distortion analysis and simulations. The obtained correlations help to calibrate the simulation results in order to use this tool for simulating distortions in more complex geometry in further step, as for the proposed demonstrator. The presented results are strengthening the usage of simulation tool to reduce the global development time through reduced expensive experiments and reduced time-to-market.

Approach and implementation

Development of the DIC strategy has been successfully applied to evaluate residual stress/strain fields on LMD material after post heat treatment, and compared to hole drilling results. For PBF processes, distortion and residual stress profiles were evaluated and predicted through simulation model, after development of a calibration procedure. On-line stress mapping with DIC during the LMD process has been initiated as well, and highlighted as a main activity to be developped in a full-scale project.