Additive Manufacturing Process Simulation

Training Guide
R18.2

1 © 2017 ANSYS, Inc. September 29, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Notices

• This training guide for additive manufacturing process

simulation is for 18.2
• It comprises a set of Beta features
− Limited testing and validation
− No documentation in the standard 18.2 help
− The official release may differ and results may change
• It is for demonstration purposes only
• For feedback and support, contact your local ANSYS support
provider
• See the ANSYS Mechanical Additive Manufacturing Process
Simulation Analysis Guide for known limitations

2 © 2017 ANSYS, Inc. September 29, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Preface

• The training is general in nature and not application

specific
• A rudimentary understanding of Workbench
Mechanical and Mechanical APDL (or Command
Objects) is presumed

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 Introduction to ANSYS AM Process Simulation

Additive Introduction
Target User
Process Simulation Goals
Simulation Overview
Methodology and Assumptions

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 Additive Introduction
Additive manufacturing (or 3D printing) builds 3D
objects by adding material a layer at a time
Our focus is on metals
• Powder Bed Fusion (PBF) also known as
− Direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) or Direct metal laser
melting (DMLM)
− Electron beam melting (EBM)
− Selective laser melting (SLM)
• Directed Energy Deposition (DED) also known as
− Laser engineered net shaping (LENS)
− Direct metal deposition
− 3D laser cladding

5 © 2017 ANSYS, Inc. September 29, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Target User

• Tool focusing on the current ANSYS-type

user
− In the design/analysis loop
• Not the process engineer/technician
determining the optimal the machine
process parameters

6 © 2017 ANSYS, Inc. September 29, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Process Simulation Goals

Answer the questions about the design

• Is this buildable?
• What is the thermal distortion?
• How do I compensate in the design for the
distortion?
• What is the best build orientation?
• What are the best supports to use, and where?
Provide design guidance
Not microstructure
Not machine process settings
7
7 © 2017 ANSYS, Inc. September 29, 2017 ANSYS Confidential
 Simulation Overview

• Model evolves over time

− Using standard ANSYS element birth and death techniques
− BCs updated internally as the build progresses
• Time itself is an internal variable
− Based on current layer size and process parameters
− Not user controllable

8 © 2017 ANSYS, Inc. September 29, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Methodology and Assumptions

• Thermal and structural physics are uncoupled

− One way thermal-to-structural analyses
• Layer at a time addition of material
− Not scan vector based
− Build-direction thermal effects dominate in-plane effects
• Superlayers: layers lumped into computational
layers
− Temperature histories of adjacent layers are similar

9 © 2017 ANSYS, Inc. September 29, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Methodology and Assumptions

• Apply melt temperature rather than heat source

− Assumes appropriate process parameters set for the build
• No superheating and keyholing
• No unmelted powder and lack of fusion
• Large time step sizes
− Sufficient to capture thermal and plastic strains that lead to
distortion

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 Methodology and Assumptions

• Supports can be represented as homogenized

material
− Support physics do not require detailed geometry
• For PBF, surrounding powder not explicitly modeled
− Modeled as equivalent heat convection if needed

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 Modeling Details
Geometry
Build Plate
Supports
Mesh
Materials
Connections
Boundary Conditions

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 Geometry

• Geometry may be from

− CAD
− Geometry file, e.g. STEP, Parasolid, ACIS
− STL
• Use SpaceClaim to cleanup and defeature if required
• Model must be oriented such that the global +Z axis
is the build direction
− Does not have to be at Z=0

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 Build Plate

• If the build plate was not included in the geometry,

it may be defined in Mechanical or MAPDL

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 Supports

• Supports are used to

− Support overhangs during the build
− Conduct heat to the build plate
− Keep the part from distorting
• Supports are best represented as solid geometry
with homogenization factors
− Use SpaceClaim (or your CAD system) to define them as solid
bodies
− If in STL format as part of the geometry, use their edges and
surfaces with SpaceClaims “pull” and “combine” features to
create a solid support.

15 © 2017 ANSYS, Inc. September 29, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Mesh

• The mesh must be a layered brick mesh

− Constant Z coordinate at each height
− Same height for each layer
• It does not have to conform exactly to the geometry
− We are interested in overall distortions and residual stresses
• The mesh height does not have to be an integer
multiple of the deposition thickness
• The body-fitted Cartesian mesh in Mechanical (Beta
at 18.2) works well

16 © 2017 ANSYS, Inc. September 29, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Mesh

• For the mesh sizing, an element should contain at

most 10 to 20 deposited layers
− For a 50 micron deposit thickness, the element sizing would
be 0.5 to 1 mm.
• The plate can be meshed independently and can be
any element shape and is typically much coarser

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 Using Mechanical to Generate the Cartesian Mesh
1. Start Workbench 1
2. Insert a Transient Thermal system by dragging it
into the Schematic
• If you are only going to mesh the model in Workbench and
transfer it to MAPDL, you can use a Mechanical Model 2
system under Component Systems instead
3. Import the geometry by right-clicking the
Geometry cell
4. Start Mechanical by double-clicking the Model cell

4 3

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 Body Fitted Cartesian Mesh

• Make sure Beta Features are “on” in Workbench

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 Body Fitted Cartesian Mesh
1

1. Insert a Cartesian Method under Mesh and

set the Element Order to be Linear
2. Select the body(s) making up the build
3. Use a Coordinate System defined at the
base of the build part and leave Projection
Factor as 0
2
4. Insert a Body Sizing with the appropriate
value

4
3

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 Body Fitted Cartesian Mesh 1

1. Generate the mesh

• Modify settings and regenerate if needed
2. At this point, you can write the mesh to a file
and bring it into MAPDL for completing the
setup and solving
• You may do more setup in Mechanical (materials, BCs,
connections [contact], etc. before writing the file
2

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 Materials
• For the thermal analysis, we require
− Thermal Conductivity, Density, and Specific Heat (KXX, DENS,
and C)
• For the structural analysis, we require
− Young’s Modulus, Poisson’s Ratio, Coefficient of Thermal
Expansion, and Bilinear Isotropic Hardening plasticity (EX,
PRXY, ALPX, and TB,BISO)
• Other plasticity models may also be used
• These must be temperature-dependent and cover
the range from room temperature to near melting
− A nominal strength (Young’s modulus and yield stress) must
be used at high temperatures – near zero values should be
avoided

22 © 2017 ANSYS, Inc. September 29, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Materials
• Reference temperature for thermal expansion
(MP,REFT) must be defined
− For the build plate, it would be room temperature
− For the build, it would be the melt temperature
• For some materials such as Ti64, the reference
temperature would be the temperature at which thermal
strains begin to accumulate
• Use MPAMOD if the data was provided at room
temperature (typical) [done automatically in Mechanical]

23 © 2017 ANSYS, Inc. September 29, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Connections

• Used to connects parts and supports to the build

plate using contact
− Bonded (KEYOPT(12)=5)
− Small sliding (KEYOPT(18)=1)
− Augmented Lagrangian (penalty, KEYOPT(2)=0)
− Default settings are sufficient
• If using Mechanical
− Delete contact found through auto-detection
− Manually create contact between the element faces

24 © 2017 ANSYS, Inc. September 29, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Boundary Conditions

• Boundary conditions for the build process are

automatically handled
• Define the appropriate BCs on the build plate
− For the thermal analysis, this is typically an imposed
temperature on its bottom surface
− For the structural analysis, this is typically a fixed
displacement at the corners (where bolted) or on its entire
bottom surface

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 Process Simulation Approach Options
The Mechanical Wizard
Workbench Mechanical
Mechanical APDL

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 Wizard

• The AM Wizard (download from the ACT Store)

allows a simplified experience to setting up and
solving
− Intended for those with little or no ANSYS experience
• Guides the user through
− Good for quick solutions
− Most experienced users would find it annoying eventually…

27 © 2017 ANSYS, Inc. September 29, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Workbench Mechanical

• For those knowledgeable in Mechanical

− See Mechanical help and the companion ANSYS Mechanical
Additive Manufacturing Process Simulation Analysis Guide
• Online and self-paced training courses on Mechanical are
available
− Command Objects are needed
• A templated approach can also be used
− A predefined Workbench project for process simulation is
available
− Simply replace its geometry with yours and mesh
− Update any process parameters and solve

28 © 2017 ANSYS, Inc. September 29, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Mechanical APDL

• Except for the most simple geometries (e.g.

mesh sweepable), another mesh generator
will have to be used
− Mechanical and the Cartesian mesher are most
appropriate
• AM Commands documented in ANSYS
Mechanical APDL Additive Manufacturing
Command Reference

29 © 2017 ANSYS, Inc. September 29, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 AM Process Setup

Prerequisites
Solution Considerations
Support Definition

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 Prerequisites
Process data needed includes:
• Pre-heat temperature of the build plate
• Layer deposit thickness
• Hatch spacing
• Beam travel speed
• Number of beams
• Inter-layer dwell time
− time it takes from the end of the deposition of a layer to the
start of the deposition of the next layer, and would include
repositioning of the recoater blade and spreading of the
powder layer

31 © 2017 ANSYS, Inc. September 29, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Prerequisites
Additive Process Build File
ANSYS 18.2 UP20170726 WINDOWS x64
08/11/2017 08:34:09
Title: blade--Transient Thermal (A5)
• For the structural analysis, these files from the
Time Layer Step Temps?
thermal analysis are needed: 2.873815298E-02 1 21 Y
5.747630596E-02 1 21 Y
− [Link]: contains the build history including the build 14.0730993 1 22 Y
28.0887222 1 22 Y
times 28.1174604 2 21 Y
28.1461985 2 21 Y
− [Link]: contains the nodal temperatures at each time point 42.1618215 2 22 Y
56.1774445 2 22 Y
56.2061826 3 21 Y
56.2349208 3 21 Y
70.2505437 3 22 Y
84.2661667 3 22 Y

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 Solution Considerations

Option Thermal Structural

Analysis type Transient (ANTYPE,TRANS) Static (ANTYPE,STATIC)
Element type SOLID70 SOLID185
Element formulation - B-bar (KEYOPT(2)=0)
Solution options - Line search (LNSRCH,ON)
- Predictor off (PRED,OFF)
- Large deflection (NLGEOM,ON)
Output controls Temperatures only Displacements and stresses only
OUTRES,NONE OUTRES,NONE
OUTRES,NSOL,ALL OUTRES,NSOL,ALL
OUTRES,STRS,ALL

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 Support Definition
• Each support must be in its own component (CM command
in MAPDL; Named Selection in Mechanical)
− They must have the same root name followed by a numeral, e.g.
“support1”, “support2”
• Supports and the part must have shared topology in order to
be correctly meshed by the Cartesian Mesher
• You could also generate the support elements in MAPDL
using NGEN/EGEN directly (remember to keep the same
mesh height)

34 © 2017 ANSYS, Inc. September 29, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Support Definition
• The AMSUPPORT command is used to identify the support:

AMSUPPORT,nSupports,CMname,SectArray
• nSupports is the number of supports
• CMname is the root name, e.g. “support”
• SectArray is the array name containing the section reference ID for
each support. The array will be nSupports long with each entry being
the section reference ID for that support.

35 © 2017 ANSYS, Inc. September 29, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Support Definition
• The SECTYPE command is used to identify the support and its
type:

SECTYPE,SECID,Type,Subtype
• SECID is the section reference ID
• Type is SUPPORT
• Subtype is BLOCK for block supports and ASEC for user-defined
support properties

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 Support Definition - BLOCK
• The SECDATA command is used to input the data:

SECDATA,VAL1,VAL2,VAL3,VAL4,VAL5,VAL6,VAL7,VAL8
− For Subtype=BLOCK:
• VAL1 is the thickness of the block wall T
• VAL2 is the distance of the block walls L

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 Support Definition
• BLOCK example with 2 supports (same block sizing)

! specify supports
*dim,suppsect,,2 ! two supports
suppsect(1)=101 ! support 1 sectID=101
suppsect(2)=101 ! support 2 sectID=101
sect,101,support,block ! sectype= block support
secdata,.07,1 ! wall thickness and spacing
amsupport,2,support,suppsect ! root name is "support" and suppsect is the
! array name containing the section ID's

38 © 2017 ANSYS, Inc. September 29, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Support Definition - ASEC
• The SECDATA command is used to input the data:

SECDATA,VAL1,VAL2,VAL3,VAL4,VAL5,VAL6,VAL7,VAL8
− For Subtype=ASEC input the homogenization factors:
Thermal Structural
VAL1 = Multiplication factor for KXX VAL1 = Multiplication factor for EX
VAL2 = Multiplication factor for KYY VAL2 = Multiplication factor for EY
VAL3 = Multiplication factor for KZZ VAL3 = Multiplication factor for EZ
VAL4 = Multiplication factor for DENS VAL4 = Multiplication factor for GXY
VAL5 = Multiplication factor for GYZ
VAL6 = Multiplication factor for GXZ
VAL7 = Multiplication factor for ALPX
VAL8 = Multiplication factor for DENS

39 © 2017 ANSYS, Inc. September 29, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Example: ASEC Applied to Block Support
Homogenization factors are the ratio of the support
area projected onto solid area

X-Y Plane (Z factor) Y-Z Plane (X factor)

T L T L
1

(T+L)(T+L) – L2 T
fz = fx =
(T+L)
(T+L)(T+L)

40 © 2017 ANSYS, Inc. September 29, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Support Definition
• ASEC Example – block example, T=.07 L=1.0 (thermal input)

! specify supports
*dim,suppsect,,1 ! one supports
suppsect(1)=101 ! support sectID=101
sect,101,support,asec ! sectype= asec support
secdata,.0654,.0654,.1266 ! fx, fy and fz (dens defaults to 1.0)
amsupport,1,support,suppsect ! root name is "support" and suppsect is the
! array name containing the section ID's

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 AM Solution Setup

Process Parameters
Build Environment

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 Process Parameters

• The AMTYPE command to specify the process type:

AMTYPE,Process
− Process is either PBF for powder bed fusion machines or DED
for directed energy deposition machines
• The AMBEAM command is used to specify the
number of beams used in the heating process:
AMBEAM,nBeams

43 © 2017 ANSYS, Inc. September 29, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Process Parameters
• The AMMAT command is used to identify the build material
and its melting (solidus) temperature:
AMMAT,matPart,Tmelt
− matPart is the material ID of the part
− Tmelt is the material solidus temperature which will be applied to each
new layer

If the part is made up of multiple material IDs, you can specify any of the
material ID’s since they are of all the same material

Tmelt is the temperature at which thermal strains begin to accumulate.

This is typically the liquidus to solidus temperature, but may be less for
some phase-transition material such as Ti64.

44 © 2017 ANSYS, Inc. September 29, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Process Parameters
• The AMBUILD command specifies various machine process parameters:
AMBUILD,Option,Value1,Value2
When Option is LAYERT
• Value1 is the deposition layer thickness
When Option is SCAN
• Value1 is the hatch spacing (spacing between beam scan lines)
• Value2 is the beam travel speed
When Option is TIME
• Value1 is the inter-layer dwell time
• Value2 is the dwell time multiplier accounting for multiple parts in a build (that are
not explicitly modeled)
When Option is PLATE
• Value1 is the Z-coordinate of the top of the build plate

45 © 2017 ANSYS, Inc. September 29, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Build Environment

• The AMENV command is used to specify the build

chamber environment conditions:
AMENV,Tgas,Hgas
− Tgas is the temperature of the gas inside the chamber
− Hgas is the heat transfer coefficient relating the convection
of the heat from the built material to the gas
For the PBF process, this is only applied to the top of the build
For DED, this is also applied to the sides of the build.

46 © 2017 ANSYS, Inc. September 29, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Build Environment

• For the PBF process, the AMPOWDER command is used

to specify the heat transfer into the powder bed:
AMPOWDER,Tpowder,Hpowder,matFactor
− Tpowder is the temperature of the newly added powder
− Hpowder is the heat transfer coefficient relating the convection of
the heat from the built material to the powder
− matFactor is the knockdown factor for the estimating the powder
properties. The factor (typically 0.01) is applied to the solid
properties in order to estimate the properties for the material in
its powder state
Typically Hpowder is a very small value and is often ignored
(Hpowder set to zero)

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 Simulate the Build

The build process is accomplished through a number of steps:

Preheat
Build
Cool Down
Removal of the Plate and Supports

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 Preheat of the Build Plate (Thermal Only)

AMSTEP,PREHEAT,Value1
• Value1 is the pre-heat temperature
This value is used to set the initial conditions of the build plate.
Note that no solution is actually performed at this step.

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 Perform the Build

AMSTEP,BUILD
− Performs the build process (equivalent to the SOLVE
command)
− There are options on the command to specify the number of
time steps to apply the heating and cool down between
layer applications (the dwell time) respectively

Note that AMSTEP replaces the

SOLVE command

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 Cool Down

AMSTEP,COOLDOWN,Value1
− Cool the part down to the temperature specified as Value1.
This is typically room temperature. We estimate the time it will take to
cool down based on the part
You may modify the AMENV and AMPOWDER options to volume, its estimated temperature,
correspond to the conditions at cool down and the convection conditions on
its boundary. You can override this
time if desired.
Remove any of the build plate thermal boundary conditions
(e.g. imposed temperature) [DDEL command]. This must be
done in a command object.

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 Remove Plate and Supports (Structural Only)

AMSTEP,REMOVAL,Value1
− Value1 is the support number to remove (use 0 for the
plate).
− Repeat this command to remove additional supports

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 Summary of AM Commands
/com, >>> define build options
pred,off ! turn off predictor algorithm yellow: structural only
amtype,pbf ! powder bed fusion process green: thermal
ambuild,plate,0 ! top of build plate at Z=0
ammat,2,1250 ! build is MAT=2 and Tmelt=1250
amenv,24,.02 ! gas temperature in build box is 24,
! convection H=.02
ampowder,24,.005,.01 ! initial powder temperature is 24, H=.005,
! powder is 1/100 of solid properties
ambuild,layert,.03 ! deposition thickness
ambuild,scan,.09,500 ! hatch spacing and laser speed
ambuild,time,10 ! time to reset recoater arm
*dim,suppsect,,1 ! one support
suppsect(1)=5 ! support sectID=5
sect,5,support,block ! sectype= block support These would be inserted
secdata,.09,1.5 ! Twall=.09, Spacing=1.5
into a Command Object in
amsupport,1,support,suppsect ! component is "support1" and suppsect is
! the array containing the section ID's Mechanical
/com, >>> build process
ambuild,rthfile,’<paste thermal solver folder here>\file'
amstep,preheat,200 ! preheat build plate to 200
amstep,build ! perform the layer-by-layer build
nsel,s,loc,z,-19.05 ! select nodes at the bottom of the plate
ddel,all,temp ! delete its temperature constraints
nsel,all ! select all the nodes
amstep,cool,24 ! cool down to room temperature
amstep,remove,0 ! remove the build plate

53 © 2017 ANSYS, Inc. September 29, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Build Process

1. A layer of powder is added (the elements

EALIVE’d) and their temperature set to Tmelt and
held for 2 time steps
2. The material is changed to solid properties
3. The part is allows to cool for 2 time steps before
the next layer is applied
4. Repeat 1-3 for each layer
This is indicated as follows in the solver output file

54 © 2017 ANSYS, Inc. September 29, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Output File
LAYER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

LOAD STEP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

ACTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .APPLY HEAT
TIME SPAN OF LOAD STEP. . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.57480E-01
TIME AT END OF LOAD STEP. . . . . . . . . . . . 1795.8
TIME STEP SIZE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.0000

FORCE CONVERGENCE VALUE = 9094. CRITERION= 158.1

DISP CONVERGENCE VALUE = 0.7816E-01 CRITERION= 0.2871E-01
EQUIL ITER 1 COMPLETED. NEW TRIANG MATRIX. MAX DOF INC= 0.7816E-01
...
>>> SOLUTION CONVERGED AFTER EQUILIBRIUM ITERATION 2
*** LOAD STEP 207 SUBSTEP 1 COMPLETED. CUM ITER = 987
*** TIME = 1795.76 TIME INC = 0.287400E-01

FORCE CONVERGENCE VALUE = 2686. CRITERION= 151.3

DISP CONVERGENCE VALUE = 0.2105E-01 CRITERION= 0.2871E-01 <<< CONVERGED
EQUIL ITER 1 COMPLETED. NEW TRIANG MATRIX. MAX DOF INC= 0.2105E-01
...
>>> SOLUTION CONVERGED AFTER EQUILIBRIUM ITERATION 1
*** LOAD STEP 207 SUBSTEP 2 COMPLETED. CUM ITER = 988
*** TIME = 1795.79 TIME INC = 0.287400E-01

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 Output File
LOAD STEP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
ACTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .COOL BETWEEN LAYERS Based on the area of
TIME SPAN OF LOAD STEP. . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.482 this layer plus the
TIME AT END OF LOAD STEP. . . . . . . . . . . . 1807.3
TIME STEP SIZE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.7408 dwell time
FORCE CONVERGENCE VALUE = 0.2159E+05 CRITERION= 183.9
DISP CONVERGENCE VALUE = 0.1347 CRITERION= 0.2871E-01
EQUIL ITER 1 COMPLETED. NEW TRIANG MATRIX. MAX DOF INC= -0.1347
...
>>> SOLUTION CONVERGED AFTER EQUILIBRIUM ITERATION 4
*** LOAD STEP 208 SUBSTEP 1 COMPLETED. CUM ITER = 992
*** TIME = 1801.53 TIME INC = 5.74080
*** MAX PLASTIC STRAIN STEP = 0.2410E-01

FORCE CONVERGENCE VALUE = 5602. CRITERION= 153.3

DISP CONVERGENCE VALUE = 0.4753E-01 CRITERION= 0.2871E-01
EQUIL ITER 1 COMPLETED. NEW TRIANG MATRIX. MAX DOF INC= -0.4753E-01
...
>>> SOLUTION CONVERGED AFTER EQUILIBRIUM ITERATION 2
*** LOAD STEP 208 SUBSTEP 2 COMPLETED. CUM ITER = 994
*** TIME = 1807.27 TIME INC = 5.74081
*** MAX PLASTIC STRAIN STEP = 0.2164E-02

LAYER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

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 AM Results

Thermal
Structural

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 Thermal Results

• Temperature contours
• Temperature history at a point
• Temperature animation during build
− For MAPDL users, use [Link]

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 Structural Results

• Displacement and stress contours

• Displacement and stress history at a point
• Displacement and stress animations over the build
− For MAPDL users, use [Link]

59 © 2017 ANSYS, Inc. September 29, 2017 ANSYS Confidential

 Available Documentation and Help

ANSYS Mechanical Additive Manufacturing Process

Simulation Analysis Guide
− For Workbench Mechanical (but has good information for Available for download
MAPDL users) on the ANSYS App Store
ANSYS Mechanical APDL Additive Manufacturing (free)
Command Reference
− For MAPDL users, but Mechanical uses these commands in
Command Objects

60 © 2017 ANSYS, Inc. September 29, 2017 ANSYS Confidential