Finite element modeling of multi-pass welding and shaped metal deposition processes

This paper describes the formulation adopted for the numerical simulation of the shaped metal deposition process (SMD) and the experimental work carried out at ITP Industry to calibrate and validate the proposed model. The SMD process is a novel manufacturing technology, similar to the multi-pass welding used for building features such as lugs and flanges on fabricated components (see Fig. 1a and b). A fully coupled thermo-mechanical solution is adopted including phase-change phenomena defined in terms of both latent heat release and shrinkage effects. Temperature evolution as well as residual stresses and distortions, due to the successive welding layers deposited, are accurately simulated coupling the heat transfer and the mechanical analysis. The material behavior is characterized by a thermo-elasto-viscoplastic constitutive model coupled with a metallurgical model. Nickel super-alloy 718 is the target material of this work. Both heat convection and heat radiation models are introduced to dissipate heat through the boundaries of the component. An in-house coupled FE software is used to deal with the numerical simulation and an ad-hoc activation methodology is formulated to simulate the deposition of the different layers of filler material. Difficulties and simplifying hypotheses are discussed. Thermo-mechanical results are presented in terms of both temperature evolution and distortions, and compared with the experimental data obtained at the SMD laboratory of ITP.