DotBlocks Talk

Today I had the pleasure of presenting my work on fast modeling of the Directed Energy Deposition process at the DotBlocks Talk. I presented a fast model for thermal behavior, microstructure generation through solidification, and stress evolution during the process. Many thanks to the DotBlocks team for their warm welcome and for the scientific and technical discussions

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Title

Cost effective digital twin of directed energy deposition additive manufacturing From thermal analysis to microstructure, and part-scale residual stress estimation

Abstract

Microstructural evolution during solidification in additive manufacturing is a key research area, as features such as morphology, crystallographic texture, and phase distribution strongly influence mechanical performance. Equally important are stress development and geometric distortions, since these can cause defects including fractures, buckling, and dimensional inaccuracies. To mitigate these challenges, process optimization—through parameter control and scanning strategy design—is essential. Achieving this requires efficient numerical simulations capable of delivering accurate results within short computation times.

This work reviews recent progress in modeling directed energy deposition across scales, from melt pool solidification to part-scale behavior. Initially, temperature evolution is calculated using a rapid numerical method named ScanFast [1]. Solidification is then modeled named TesselAM [2] using an efficient algorithm based on Voronoi methods that captures competitive epitaxial growth of columnar dendrites. Finally, stress and displacement evolution during full 3D structure formation is simulated using a one-dimensional model named QuadWire [3], which assigns four particles per material point. Validation against experimental data is presented at each stage of analysis.

• [1] Fast simulation of temperature and phase transitions in directed energy deposition additive manufacturing. D Weisz-Patrault, Additive Manufacturing 31, 100990, 2020
• [2] Dollé, Q., & Weisz-Patrault, D. (2024). Very fast simulation of growth competition between columnar dendritic grains during melt pool solidification. Computational Materials Science, 243, 113112.
• [3] QuadWire: an extended one dimensional model for efficient mechanical simulations of bead-based additive manufacturing processes. L Preumont, R Viano, D Weisz-Patrault, P Margerit, G Allaire, Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 2024, 117010