Finite element simulation of selective laser melting process for fabrication of metallic lattice materials

A finite element simulation is developed to study thermo-mechanical behavior of a metallic lattice material, fabricated by selective laser melting (SLM) process. SLM is widely used in manufacturing three-dimensional functional parts layer by layer. A physics-based layer build-up approach coupled with a surface moving heat flux and a material properties update algorithm are incorporated into the modeling process. Thermal history in the multi-layer build-up process is also obtained. The main goal of this paper deals with how an SLM machine could make a lattice material from pre-alloyed Ti-6Al-4V powder. Temperature and residual stress fields in the lattice material are also investigated.