Investigating the microstructure evolution of additive manufactured parts using multiscale modelling

Abstract

There are tremendous opportunities within the field of AM that can offer many economic advantages to several industries. Although the technology has been around for a long time, the use of AM for production is still novel. This thesis has made strides in understanding and comparing SLM processing parameters, as well as providing a framework for efficient simulation of Ti6Al4V phase transformations. The literature review identified the need to further explore SLM processing parameters as their effect on thermal histories, melt pool dimensions and microstructure evolution is not well known. The focus of the thesis was on Ti6Al4V as it was recognised as one of the key materials used within AM. Finite element analysis in Abaqus has been used to model the thermal behaviour and results compared against those from the literature and in-house experiments. Coupling results from the 3D heat transfer model, metallurgical phase transformations were simulated using the Johnson–Mehl–Avrami–Kolmogorov method. The microstructure model allows further exploration of Ti6Al4V phase transformations in SLM in the search for accurate and efficient models.

Date of Award	Jul 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Queen's University Belfast
Sponsors	Northern Ireland Department for the Economy
Supervisor	Gasser Abdelal (Supervisor), Chi Wai Chan (Supervisor) & Brian Falzon (Supervisor)