Experimental assessment of compensated distortion in selective laser melting of Ti6Al4V parts

Abstract

Selective laser melting (SLM) is a well-established Additive Manufacturing technique for the fabrication of end-use metal components. Process reliability and maximum product quality are ensured by 20 years of technology development. Nevertheless, depending on the complexity of the part geometry and on the operator experience, different trials are often needed before getting a part first time right. To reduce the number of failed jobs, simulation software packages predict residual stresses and related distortions in SLM parts and propose a compensated geometry for the “right first time” production of the product. In this works, the simulation routines of Amphyon software by Additive Works are experimentally calibrated and validated for the fabrication of a reference geometry by means of an EOSINT M270 machine and Ti6Al4V powder. The calibration of Amphyon is performed using three cantilever specimens and the calibrated SLM simulation is then used to compute the compensated shape of the reference part. The validation of the compensated shape by comparison to the real part geometry shows that Amphyon routines have good prediction capability and dimensional accuracy.