Phase field simulation of dendritic microstructure in additively manufactured titanium alloy

Abstract

Additive manufacturing (AM) processes for metals, such as selective laser sintering and electron beam melting, involve rapid solidification process. The microstructure of the fabricated material and its properties strongly depend on the solidification. Therefore, in order to control and optimize the AM process, it is important to understand the microstructure evolution. In this work, using Ti-6Al-4V as a model system, the phase field method is applied to simulate the microstructure evolution in additively manufactured metals. First, the fundamental governing equations are presented. Then the effects of various processing related parameters, including local temperature gradient, scan speed and cooling rate, on dendrites’ morphology and growth velocity are studied. The simulated results show that the dendritic arms grow along the direction of the heat flow. Higher temperature gradient, scan speed and cooling rate will result in small dendritic arm spacing and higher growth velocity. The simulated dendritic morphology and arm spacings are in good agreement with experimental data and theoretical predictions.