Representative Volume Element (RVE) Analysis for Mechanical Characterization of Fused Deposition Modeled Components

Abstract

Additive manufacturing processes have evolved considerably in the past years, growing into a wide range of products through the use of different materials depending on its application sectors. Nevertheless, the fused deposition modelling (FDM) technique has proven to be an economically feasible process turning additive manufacture technologies from consumer production into a mainstream manufacturing technique. Current advances in the finite element method (FEM) and the computer-aided engineering (CAE) technology are unable to study three-dimensional (3D) printed models, since the final result is highly dependent on processing and environment parameters. Because of that, an in-depth understanding of the printed geometrical mesostructure is needed to extend FEM applications. This study aims to generate a homogeneous structural element that accurately represents the behavior of FDM-processed materials, by means of a representative volume element (RVE). The homogenization summarizes the main mechanical characteristics of the actual 3D printed structure, opening new analysis and optimization procedures. Moreover, the linear RVE results can be used to further analyze the in-deep behavior of the FDM unit cell. Therefore, industries could perform a feasible engineering analysis of the final printed elements, allowing the FDM technology to become a mainstream, low-cost manufacturing process in the near future.

Elasto-Plastic Mechanical Modeling of Fused Deposition 3D Printing Materials

“…Due to the actual available computing power, it is difficult, if not impossible, to realize numerical models that can simulate entire components with a microstructural level of detail. Microscale models can be effectively used only on limited material portions to obtain homogenized model characteristics, that are useful when implementing mechanical analyses on real components, starting from the properties of mesostructures [ 21 , 22 , 23 ]. However, even in these cases, it is possible and probably needed to consider material anisotropy.…”

Design Issues of Heavy Fuel APUs Derived from Automotive Turbochargers Part III: Combustor Design Improvement

“…Due to the small efficiency, it would be necessary to add a heat exchanger to recycle power from the exhaust to the intake. A 30% heat recovery is common [9,10]. However, this approach increases the overall volume of the turbogas generator with a size that is similar to the one of piston engines.…”

“…Thus, the computational cross section utilized in our CFD code is a vivid limit nonbody-fitted Cartesian lattice. For this reason, the dimensionless distance boundary from the divider boundary y+ is utilized (10).…”

“…Thus, the computational cross section utilized in our CFD code is a vivid limit non body-fitted Cartesian lattice. For this reason, the dimensionless distance boundary from the divider boundary y+ is utilized (10). Accordingly, the dimensionless separation from the tempestuous harmony area's external limit up to y+ = 300 follows the exploratory in formation introduced by [19].…”

“…For t the divider boundary y+ is utilized the tempestuous harmony area's e formation introduced by [19]. With heat transition, and limit condition and decreases the computational ti comes with standard PCs is then fe x i (10) where C ij = 0.09, C t1 = 1.44, C t2 = 1.92, σ k = 1, σ ε = 1.3, σ B = 0.9 and C B = 1 or C B = 0 for P B > 0 and P B < 0. Lam and Brembhorst's damping function is used in the turbulent viscosity term (8) (9).…”