Mitigation of Thermal Distortion in Metal AM through Thermo-mechanical Simulation

The metal additive manufacturing (AM) process can quickly produce complex parts with mechanical properties comparable to wrought materials. However, thermal stress accumulated in the process may induce thermal distortion, and even cause the failure of the entire build process. In this presentation, we will discuss the following subjects:

• The physical mechanism of stress accumulation in metal AM
• Various simulation techniques for metal AM
• How those simulation techniques can help mitigate thermal distortion in metal AM

We will then look at some example parts to show the effects of distortion and demonstrate how simulation tools can be used to mitigate such distortion in each case.