Investigation of Residual Stresses in the Selective Laser Melting using

Finite Element Analysis

L. Parry1,a, I. Ashcroft1,b
1

Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing Research Group, Faculty of Engineering, The University of
Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, United Kingdom
a

luke.parry@nottingham.ac.uk, b ian.ashcroft@nottingham.ac.uk

Keywords: Selective Laser Melting (SLM), Residual Stress, Finite Element Analysis (FEA)

Abstract
The use of (SLM) Selective Laser Melting (SLM) in is an Additive Manufacturing method that
enables greater design freedoms than traditional manufacturing methods in the production of high
value, low volume production of metallic parts. Despite this now being a well- established
processing methods, there are a number of issues impeding industrial uptake, including the
generation the implications of residual stress and part distortion inhibit its adoptionduring
manufacture. Prediction of such effectsresidual stress is invaluable for tuning process parameters,
and powder metallurgy but fundamentally optimising the part geometry and support structures to
remove current limitationslimit residual stress based distortion during manufacture. This paper
establishes a thermal modelling strategy to predict temperature distribution within a 3D SLM part
that is a precursor towards a residual stress analysis. Finally the discussion aims to outline research
motivation and the future applications
Introduction:
SLM is capable of producing fully dense metal parts directly from the machine. The process
involves exposing a powder bed to a laser beam with a high flux density, causing the powder to
melt and solidify upon cooling. The laser point scans along paths computed from slicing a 3D CAD
Model and processing these layers. This process is repeated for each layer slice to produce a 3D
part. This process bares great resemblance to welding both in design and analysis. The advantage of
SLMs ability to create fully dense part removes the requirement for time-consuming and expensive
post-processing.
The high temperature gradients and non-uniform thermal expansions and contractionslocated
aroundin the HAZ - Heat Affected Zone (HAZ) promote can result in the formation of high residual
stresses in the finished component which lead to undesirable effects including the promotion of
cracking, fatigue-failure and part distortion. High thermal gradients introduce thermal expansion of
material around the melt pool and introduce localised compressive and tensile stresses that upon
cooling become locked-in stresses. Another contribution is work hardening through yielding.
The immediate effect of thermal strains during the build process is distortion which prompts the
requirement of support structures. These are an generally undesirable and as they are detrimental to
build efficiency: affecting material resources and postproductionpostprocessing. The ability to
predict residual stress and distortion will allow optimisation of the build parameters, and model
orientation and position, laser scan strategy and; support structure generation .and to greater effect
topology optimisation of geometry [Daves paper from our group?]

Modelling such behaviour using FEA remains challenging, contributed byowing to the non-linear
effects of thermal phenomena and thermally dependent material behaviour. Furthermore, the
magnitude of spatio-temporal scale between the localised HAZ and the global model domain
introduce a conflict of model resolution. There is a requirement to capture a laser spot size of the
order (30-300m) within a large global domain size (10-300mm) and a build time that can range
from minutes to hours. Further contributions to model complexity arise from a multitude of
physical phenomena including but not limited to Marangoni Flow, Volume Powder Shrinkage,
Thermo-capillary and Laser Powder Penetration [2-5]. Such computational methods become
inherently expensive and require a balance between scale, performance and accuracy without
comprising the analyst's intentions.
Methodology:
The SLM process was modelled using MSC Marc in conjunction with user defined Fortran
subroutines for the inclusion of independent powder and consolidated material phases. A transient
thermal analysis was performed on Stainless Steel 316L. This material was chosen through thedue
to the avauilability of the required material data [6], however, the model could accept other
materials provided if thermo-physical data is available.
Based on previousIn the modelling strategy,ies state variables are used to permit and track a
unidirectional state change from powder to the consolidated phases upon reaching the melt
TL
temperature
- see Fig.1. Fundamental requirements of the model are temperature dependent
material properties for the different material states. Thermo-physical material used
currentlyproperties required are specific heat C P (T ) , density (T ) and, thermal conductivity
k (T ) .

Fig.1: State change model used within Fortran Subroutines.

Model Definition:
Boundary conditions and experimental material data were taken from a previous study [6]. This
includes a fixed temperature boundary condition for the substrate and forced convection term on
the powder bed surface; representative of the argon gas flow. Heat input was provided using a
Goldak Heat Source [7] typically used for welding simulations and this is representative of a
moving double ellipsoid Gaussian heat flux. The inclusion of built-in adaptive meshing around the

local domain improveds the accuracy in the localised HAZ that is subjected towhere high thermal
gradients and the greatest source of nonlinearity arise.
A rectangular domain 2 mm x 6.4 mm x 1.5mm consisting of 8 node Hexahedron 8 Node al
elements was used with a semi-infinite laser path across the surface of the powder bed, with the
laser parameters listed in Table 1.
Table 1: Laser Scan Parameters used for the simulation
Results
discussion:

Laser Power [W]

Laser Speed [mm/s]

30
200

Laser Spot Diameter [m]

Absorption Efficiency

120
0.67

and

The results are broadly in agreement with other previous findings [3]. Figure 2 illustrates the
significance of accounting for the change of state from powder to consolidated material in the
model. It can be noted fromseen in Fig. 2 that there is presence of a characteristic asymmetrica
larger melt pool in the state variable model. This is explained by the consolidated material
properties thermal diffusivity valuelow thermal conductivity of the material in powder form
producing a more concentrated thermal field. In the state variable model, an elongated rectangular
tail is present whereas the single phase model is conical. The difference in shape of heat tail
behind the melt pool, demonstrates the insulated behaviour of the powder surrounding the melt
pool. At room temperature thermal diffusivity of solid to powder is approximately 75x greater
easing the conduction of heat away from the melt pool.

Fig. 2: Finite Element analysis showing top a plan view of the temperature distribution of SLM
Laser Scan: SLM Simulation without state variables (Left), with state variables (Right)
The melt pool dimensions in the state variable model are 0.4 mm x 0.13 mm x 0.069mm Fig. 3
with an aspect ratio of 3 similar to [7]. The width and depth are in good agreement with the laser
spot diameter chosen, however, the laser power chosen is not indicative of a typical SLM build.

As of a consequence of the high energy density, the peak temperature of the melt pool is above the
vaporisation transition temperature of steel, similar to other models [2,4,5,6] and in such state is not
sufficient for accurate problem modelling. The current model described in this paper omits the
TL
effects of latent heat released at both the
liquidus transition and vaporisation temperature.
The latter has been shown to significantly affect the melt pool dimensions by limiting the max
temperature of the melt pool and as a result increasing melt pool penetration depth [8].
One difficulty for the creation of SLM simulations is having comprehensive thermal material
property data for metallic powders. Models for emissivity, thermal conductivity and specific heat
have been proposed but have yet to be verified experimentally [9]. Later revisions of this model
will include the physical phenomena discussed earlier to enable more effective use of a coupled
structural analysis. This residual stress distribution will be validated with a recent technique using
Nanoindentation and AFM [10].

Fig. 3: Annotated size of melt pool showing top and side cross section temperature distribution of
model using state variables.
Additionally multipath laser scanning will allow enable the analysis of more complex non-linear
behaviour such as overlap of hatch scan lines. It willas also support further optimisation studies.
Summary:
The state variable model used in FE analysis allowed the prediction of melt pool behaviour and
temperature distribution along a semi-infinite laser path with a state change from powder to solid
transition. The present results are in good agreement to previous simulation studies carried out.
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