Numerical Investigation of the Defects Effect in Additive Manufactured Ti-6Al-4V Struts on Deformation Behavior Based on Microtomographic Images

Abstract

This paper describes the influence of defects occurring in struts under tension, obtained using the additive method of laser powder bed fusion (LPBF), on the stress and strain distributions. The study used struts of different thicknesses separated from Ti-6Al-4V diamond lattice structures. For numerical modeling of stress and strain fields, models that reflect the realistic shape of the tested struts with their imperfections were used. The shape of the diamond structure struts was obtained based on microtomographic measurements. Based on the results obtained, the influence of defects in the material structure on the stress and strain distribution was analyzed. It was observed that the main factor influencing the stress and strain distribution in the struts are micronotches on their external surface. These imperfections have a significantly greater impact on the stress and strain concentration than the micropores inside. Furthermore, the interactions of the imperfections are also important, which in turn affects the stress distributions and the formation of bands of high-stress values inside the material. The relationship between the presence of micropores, the stress–strain curves, and the mechanical properties of the material was also assessed.