A novel higher-order finite element framework for the process modeling of material extrusion additive manufacturing AITranslate

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DOI：https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addma.2023.103759

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Material extrusion additive manufacturing enables the rapid fabrication of complex structures for a wide range of applications, including within the aerospace and healthcare sectors. Optimizing the performance of additively manufactured polymer structures depends on the ability to predict residual stress induced by the sequential solidification of the extruded layers. Self-equilibrated residual stresses are influenced by the thermal history of the part during the manufacturing process. This work introduces a novel numerical framework for the process modeling of material extrusion additive manufacturing. The numerical modeling is based on higher-order finite elements derived from the Carrera Unified Formulation (CUF), which enables accurate prediction of the stress field while reducing the associated computational overheads. Element activation is adopted to model the evolving structure during material extrusion and deposition. Heat exchange mechanisms such as conduction (filament/filament, filament/build platform), convection, and radiation are included in the model. A transient thermal analysis is performed in this new framework to predict the temperature distribution within the part during its fabrication. Multiple numerical assessments are presented for the material extrusion additive manufacturing of parts ranging in size from 30 mm to over 1500 mm. The predicted thermal profiles are in excellent agreement with reference experimental observations, thereby validating the proposed numerical framework and demonstrating its capability to model the printing process accurately. Results from this work are a milestone toward optimizing additively manufactured polymer parts.