Experimental validation of laser powder bed fusion simulation

In many industrial sectors, laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) is the main additive manufacturing technology for producing end-usable metal parts. Although L-PBF technique has been developed in the last twenty years, ensuring process feasibility and achieving maximum product quality at the first building session is still a difficult goal to pursue. Simulation software packages are available in the market for the prediction of induced stresses and deformation in L-PBF products to help the user getting the part right at the first time. In this paper, Amphyon software by Additive Works is tested and experimentally validated for the production of Ti6Al4V parts in an EOSINT M270 Dual Mode machine. First, the sensitivity of the software is evaluated by changing the main process parameters by +/- 20% with respect to Ti64 reference values. After calibration, the software is validated by comparison of the predicted deformed shape of a reference part with the real geometry using 3D scanning. Experimental results show that Amphyon software is able to predict the deformed shape for L-PBF parts correctly. The deviations from the real geometry depend on a simplified simulation model that considers a limited set of parameters for the L-PBF process.