Residual Stress Generation in Additive Manufacturing of Complex Lattice Geometries

Residual stresses developed during additive manufacturing (AM) can influence the mechanical performance of structural components in their intended applications. In this study, thermomechanical residual stress simulations of the laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) process are conducted for both simplified (plate and cube-shaped) geometries as well as five complex lattice geometries fabricated with Inconel 718. These simulations are conducted with the commercial software package Simufact Additive^©, which uses a nonlinear finite element analysis and layer-by-layer averaging approach in determining residual stresses. To verify the efficacy of the Simufact Additive^© simulations, numerical results for the plate and cube-shape geometries are analyzed for convergence and compared to experimental residual stress results available in the literature. Numerical residual stress results are subsequently compared for five complex lattice geometries. Results suggest that lattice geometry can play a significant role in the distribution and magnitude of residual stresses, which are significant in some applications.