AM Calculator

Depending how you set up your simulation, the AM Calculator can either be part of the workflow after a Scheil Calculator or directly at the root below the My Project node icon My Project node.

There is an Additive Manufacturing template available under Applications that you can use to quickly set up either one of these workflow options for the AM simulation. See Additive Manufacturing Templates and Setting Up the Additive Manufacturing Simulation.

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

There are these simulation type pathways to choose: Steady-state, Transient, or Transient with heat source from Steady-state.

In cases where convection is the dominant mode of heat transfer, fluid flow inside the melt pool plays a significant role in determining the correct shape of the melt pool.

For more details about these see Additive Manufacturing Simulation Types. Also review the Additive Manufacturing Module Theory as needed.

  • Steady-state: Compute temperature distribution in a steady-state environment, either on a bare metal substrate or with a powder layer on the top, with the possibility to add fluid flow inside the melt pool. For this simulation type, you can also choose the following Calculation Types:

    • Single Point, which is the standard steady-state calculation for a single set of processing parameters.
    • Heat Source Calibration to calibrate a heat source based on the imported or entered experimental data instead of performing a single point calculation. This is available with Gaussian, Double ellipsoidal, or Conical heat sources.
    • Batch to include power and scan speed data, which is read from a file such as a spreadsheet. You can optionally include experimental melt pool width and depth (if there is data), and compare this to the calculated results.
    • Grid to evaluate two axis variables of power and scanning speeds in the specified range and number of steps.
  • Transient: Compute temperature distribution in a transient case with the given scanning strategy including multiple paths and layers and the possibility to add fluid flow inside the melt pool.
  • Transient with heat source from Steady-state: Compute temperature distribution in a transient case with the given scanning strategy including multiple paths and layers.
    • A volume heat source is used in the transient simulations. This is based on the solution of a steady-state calculation.
  • For a Gaussian, Core-ring, or Top-hat heat sources (Steady-state or Transient with heat source from Steady-state) you can also include a Keyhole model. This is available with or without fluid flow, or if you use separate material properties for powder.

There are several settings and these are described separately.

Also as a successor to the AM Calculator, you can right-click the node to add one or more Plot Renderer nodes to visualize your results. Although the node works the same as with the other calculators in Thermo‑Calc, there are additional features and settings unique to this Module. Useful information is included throughout the documentation. See About the AM Plot Types and AM Calculator: Plot Renderer Settings as starting points.

When setting up an AM simulation, the Visualizations window shows both active configuration changes and other design states as set up on the AM Calculator as well as the results generated by the Plot Renderer calculations. There are several related topics to visualize results as well as when you are setting up the simulations. See Working with AM Visualizations as a starting point to learn more.