Experimental comparison of residual stresses for a thermomechanical model for the simulation of selective laser melting

Selective laser melting (SLM) is an additive manufacturing process in which multiple, successive layers of metal powders are heated via laser in order to build a part. Modeling of SLM requires consideration of the complex interaction between heat transfer and solid mechanics. The present work describes the authors initial efforts to validate their first generation model, as described in Hodge et al. [1]. In particular, the comparison of model-generated solid mechanics results, including both deformation and stresses, is presented. Additionally, results of various perturbations of the process parameters and modeling strategies are discussed.