In additive manufacturing, the presence of residual stresses in produced parts is a well-recognized phenomenon. These residual stresses not only elevate the risk of crack formation but also impose limitations on in-service performance. Moreover, it can distort printed parts if released, or in the worst case even cause a build to fail due to collision with the powder scraper. This study introduces a thermo-mechanical finite element model designed to predict the impact of various scanning strategies in order to mitigate the aforementioned unwanted outcomes. The investigation focuses on the deformation and residual stresses of two geometries manufactured by laser-based powder bed fusion (PBF-LB). To account for relaxation effects during the process, a mechanism-based material model has been implemented and used. Additionally, a purely mechanical model, based on the inherent strain method, has been calibrated to account for different scanning strategies. To assess the predicted residual stresses, high-energy synchrotron measurements have been used to obtain values for comparison. The predictions of the models are evaluated, and their accuracy is discussed in terms of the physical aspects of the PBF-LB process. Both the thermo-mechanical models and the inherent strain method capture the trend of experimentally measured residual stress fields. While deformations are also adequately captured, there is an overall underprediction of their magnitude. This work contributes to advancing our understanding of the thermo-mechanical behavior in PBF-LB and provides valuable insights for optimizing scanning strategies in additive manufacturing processes.

Residual stresses in metal additive manufactured components are a well-known problem. It causes distortion of the samples when removing them from the build plate, as well as acting detrimental with regard to fatigue. The understanding of how residual stresses in a printed sample are affected by process parameters is crucial to allow manufacturers to tune their process parameters, or the design of their component, to limit the negative influence of residual stresses. In this paper, residual stresses in additive manufactured samples are simulated using a thermo-mechanical finite element model. The elasto-plastic behavior of the material is described by a mechanism-based material model that accounts for microstructural and relaxation effects. The heat source in the finite element model is calibrated by fitting the model to experimental data. The residual stress field from the finite element model is compared with experimental results attained from synchrotron X-ray diffraction measurements. The results from the model and measurement give the same trend in the residual stress field. In addition, it is shown that there is no significant difference in trend and magnitude of the resulting residual stresses for an alternation in laser power and scanning speed.

This thesis presents finite element (FE) simulations of additive manufacturing (AM) and physically based material modeling of alloy 625 and alloy 718. In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in AM and there has been a dramatic increase in publications in the field. AM can be beneficial compared to conventional manufacturing methods in many applications. The method offers short component lead times and large design freedom with the possibility to create complex components. Alloy 625 and alloy 718 are nickel-based superalloys used in high-temperature applications owing to their high-temperature strength. The materials are difficult to manufacture by conventional machining due to rapid tool wear and low material removal rates. Thus, the alloys are appropriate for the AM technology with its near-net shape potential.Owing to the rapid heating and solidification in the AM process, residual stresses are induced in the component. This is a well-known problem and causes distortion of the samples when removing them from the build plate. The residual stresses may also deteriorate the fatigue properties. It is important for the manufacturer to understand how the choice of process parameters and scanning strategy affect the residual stresses to minimize those and improve the quality of the components. Simulation can be used as a tool while developing the process parameters and support the experimental efforts. FEM is generally the preferred method for simulation of deformations and residual stresses in AM. The simulation technique used when modeling AM has its origin from welding simulations that was performed already since the beginning of 1970. However, it is not possible in practice to simulate an AM process in the traditional way due to a large number of elements and time increments to be calculated. This is especially true for the laser-based powder bed fusion (PBF-LB) process where the process of a full-scale part may comprise many thousands of added layers, and the passes are lengthy relative to their thicknesses and widths.The aim of this thesis work is to develop FE simulation techniques that reduce the computational effort when modeling residual stresses in AM processes to enable simu-lation of full-scale parts. This has been done with thermo-mechanical FE-models using different lumping techniques e.g., lumping of layers and lumping of hatches. Lumping of layers and hatches means that several physical layers, or several physical hatches, are merged and added in one modeled layer or hatch respectively. Lumping allows fewer time steps and a coarser mesh which reduces the computational effort. An existing mechanism based flow stress model has been developed to fit the mechanisms typical for alloy 625 and alloy 718 and implemented in the FE model. Also, synchrotron X-ray diffraction was performed to measure the residual stress for comparison with the models. The stress was extracted from the diffraction data using the full Debye ring fitting method.In this work, using the lumping techniques described above, it was possible to simu-late AM processes with up to physical 1500 layers. For different process parameter sets and scan strategies, thermal behavior, deformation and residual stresses have been mod-eled and compared with experiments. Using the lumping of layer technique resulted in modeled residual stresses showing the same trend as measured stresses from synchrotron X-ray diffraction for two different process parameter sets. Utilizing lumping of hatches, the resulting deflection in a part was modeled successfully for different scanning strate-gies. In the modeling, the larger deflection was seen for the samples printed with the scanning direction parallel to the long-side which was also shown experimentally.The results in this work shows that the presented lumping approaches are promising when it comes to modeling of the deformations and residual stresses in AM. Using lumping approaches, it is also possible to simulate different scanning strategies for processes of larger parts. The description of the mechanical behavior of the material is improved, using the mechanism based material model, compared to when the flow stress was modeled with tabulated data, since it takes mechanisms as viscoplasticity and stress relaxation into account. The mechanism based model includes microstructural information as grain size and solutes and can thus more easily be combined with a microstructure model. The combination of the mechanism based material model and the use of lumping techniques is thus an advance in the development of predictive models of the AM process.

Additive manufacturing is the process by which material is added layer by layer. In most cases, many layers are added, and the passes are lengthy relative to their thicknesses and widths. This makes finite element simulations of the process computationally demanding owing to the short time steps and large number of elements. The classical lumping approach in computational welding mechanics, popular in the 80s, is therefore, of renewed interest and is evaluated in this work. The method of lumping means that welds are merged. This allows fewer time steps and a coarser mesh. It was found that the computation time can be reduced considerably, with retained accuracy for the resulting temperatures and deformations. The residual stresses become, to a certain degree, smaller. The simulations were validated against a directed energy deposition (DED) experiment with alloy 625.

In this thesis, finite element (FE) simulations of additive manufacturing (AM) and physically based material modeling are presented. AM is a process where the component is built layer-wise. The material undergoes repeated heating and cooling cycles when layers are added, which may result in undesired deformation and residual stress in the built component. The choice of process parameters and scan strategy affect the resulting residual stress. Simulations can be used to support the experimental determination of process parameters and scan strategy. AM processes often comprise many added layers, and the passes are lengthy relative to their thicknesses and widths. This makes the FE simulations computationally expensive, with many elements and time steps. In this work, AM processes have been simulated with the FE-method using a lumping technique. This technique allows fewer time steps and a coarser mesh. Thermal behavior, deformation, and residual stresses have been simulated and compared with experiments. The simulations show that, by using the lumping technique, the computational effort can be reduced significantly with retained accuracy for the resulting temperature and deformations. The residual stresses become somewhat smaller. Alloy 625 is a nickel-based superalloy used in high-temperature applications owing to the hightemperature strength. The material is difficult to manufacture by conventional machining owing to excessive tool wear and low material removal rates. Thus alloy 625 is a material appropriate for the AM technology with its near-net shape potential. An existing, physically based flow stress model has been further developed to fit the mechanisms typical for alloy 625. This model gives an accurate mechanical behavior and capture viscoplasticity, creep, and relaxation. The physically based model has been calibrated versus compression tests and validated with a stress relaxation test performed in a Gleeble 3800 machine. The predicted relaxation was in good agreement with the measured relaxation. The usage of this kind of material model is expected to improve the prediction of the material behavior during the AM process and, thereby, the overall prediction of the AM process.

To predict the final geometry in thermo-mechanical processes, the use of modeling tools is of great importance. One important part of the modeling process is to describe the response correctly. A previously published mechanism-based flow stress model has been further developed and adapted for the nickel-based superalloys, alloy 625, and alloy 718. The updates include the implementation of a solid solution strengthening model and a model for high temperature plasticity. This type of material model is appropriate in simulations of manufacturing processes where the material undergoes large variations in strain rates and temperatures. The model also inherently captures stress relaxation. The flow stress model has been calibrated using compression strain rate data ranging from 0.01 to 1 s⁻¹ with a temperature span from room temperature up to near the melting temperature. Deformation mechanism maps are also constructed which shows when the different mechanisms are dominating. After the model has been calibrated, it is validated using stress relaxation tests. From the parameter optimization, it is seen that many of the parameters are very similar for alloy 625 and alloy 718, although it is two different materials. The modeled and measured stress relaxation are in good agreement.

Computational welding mechanics (CWM) have a strong connection to thermal stresses, as they are one of the main issues causing problems in welding. The other issue is the related welding deformations together with existing microstructure. The paper summarizes the important models related to prediction of thermal stresses and the evolution of CWM models in order to manage the large amount of ‘welds’ in additive manufacturing.

Additive manufacturing by powder bed fusion processes can be utilized to create bulk metallic glass as the process yields considerably high cooling rates. However, there is a risk that reheated material set in layers may become devitrified, i.e., crystallize. Therefore, it is advantageous to simulate the process to fully comprehend it and design it to avoid the aforementioned risk. However, a detailed simulation is computationally demanding. It is necessary to increase the computational speed while maintaining accuracy of the computed temperature field in critical regions. The current study evaluates a few approaches based on temporal reduction to achieve this. It is found that the evaluated approaches save a lot of time and accurately predict the temperature history.