AM Calculator Materials Properties Settings

Once you have added an AM Calculator, the Configuration window has these settings tabs where there are many available conditions to set on the Conditions, Materials Properties, and Options tabs and with the specialized Plot Renderer.

This section describes the settings for the Materials Properties tab.

AM Calculator Conditions Settings and AM Calculator Options Settings

If there is a Scheil Calculator predecessor to the AM Calculator, you can import the material properties from a Library or Scheil Calculator. When the AM template is added, the default is to import material properties from Scheil calculations.

When the with Material Library template is used, then the AM Calculator > Materials properties are available to import from a Library only.

In this case you also can Save, Save as, Export to Folder, Delete, and Rename the material data both from Scheil and from material library. With Save or Save as, original data is saved i.e. without any smoothing. With Export to Folder, the data is saved with Smoothing. the material data both from Scheil and from material library.

Export to folder is intended for using the data in an external simulation software, where using smoothed data is expected to result in fewer numerical issues. Save and Save as are intended for when the data is to be used in the AM Module. The data will be smoothed according to the smoothing setting before use in the FEM simulation.

When Use data from Scheil Calculator is selected, you can also select the Account for interface scattering checkbox.

The electrical resistivity due to phase interface scattering is evaluated as the scattering constant times sum of the interaction between the volume fraction of all the phases. The default value for the Phase interface scattering constant is found to be 4.0e-8 Ωm for aluminum alloys produced with conventional methods. A higher value could be required for the AM process where the rapid solidification results in a very fine microstructure with a large amount of phase interfaces.The contribution to thermal conductivity is assumed to be related to that to electrical resistivity, following the Wiedemann-Franz law.

Either keep the default Phase interface scattering constant, which is a constant for evaluating thermal conductivity due to scattering at phase interfaces, or enter another value.

You can import material properties contained in a folder.

Click the Import from folder and add to libraries button and navigate to the folder location where the material properties are located.

From the Smoothing list, select Same for all quantities (where Little smoothing is the default) or Per quantity. Then either define the smoothing once (Same for all quantities) or individually for each quantity. Options are No smoothing, Little smoothing, Medium smoothing, Large smoothing, or Linear.

Available quantities to define smoothing:

  • Heat
  • Apparent heat capacity per kg
  • Density
  • Thermal conductivity
  • Dynamic viscosity
  • Surface tension
  • Molar volume
  • Molar mass of gas
  • Driving force for evaporation per mole
  • Evaporation enthalpy per mole
  • Electric resistivity
  • Absorptivity
  • Absorptivity vs angle

From the Plot list, choose what quantity to plot:

  • Heat
  • Apparent heat capacity per kg
  • Density
  • Thermal conductivity
  • Dynamic viscosity
  • Surface tension
  • Molar volume
  • Molar mass of gas
  • Driving force for evaporation per mole
  • Evaporation enthalpy per mole
  • Electric resistivity

The following absorptivity options depend on what combination of heat source and calculation type is selected on the Conditions tab. See AM Calculator Heat Source Settings.

Absorptivity and Absorptivity vs angle plot options are available when the conditions below are met:

  • When a Gaussian, Core-ring, or Top-hat heat source is selected, plus any one of the Single Point, Batch, or Grid calculation types AND when Calculated or User-defined is selected.
  • When a Gaussian heat source is selected, plus a Heat Source Calibration calculation type AND when User-defined is selected.

Also, for a Gaussian heat source, Heat Source Calibration calculation type, AND when Calculated is selected, then the options are:

  • Absorptivity (wavelength is <value from Heat Source settings> with prefactor 1.0).
  • Absorptivity vs angle (wavelength is <value from Heat Source settings> with prefactor 1.0).

The wavelength <value from Heat Source settings > for the Absorptivity and Absorptivity vs angle is the same as what is entered on the Conditions tab. For example, if 1064 nm is entered, it displays on the Material Properties tab as Absorptivity (wavelength is 1064 nm with prefactor 1.0).

You can also choose to Show transition temperatures:

  • Solidus, Liquidus, Evaporation
  • Solidus
  • Liquidus
  • Evaporation
  • Custom: If selected, also enter a value in the field. The default unit is the same as what is selected globally on the Tools → Options → Graphical Mode → Default Units tab.
  • None