Ratcheting Simulation of Additively Manufactured Aluminum 4043 Samples through Finite Element Analysis

Abstract

This study presents a finite element-based ratcheting assessment of additively manufactured aluminum 4043 samples undergoing asymmetric loading cycles. The Chaboche material model in ANSYS was utilized and the effects of mesh and element type were examined. Different element numbers were used in a thorough convergence study to obtain independent meshing structures. The coefficients of this model were defined through stress–strain hysteresis loops determined from the strain-controlled tests. The backstress evolution and the corresponding yield surface translation in the deviatoric stress space were discussed as three different mesh elements of linear brick, quadratic tetrahedron, and quadratic brick were adopted. The magnitude of backstress was affected as different element types were employed. The first-order brick elements resulted in the highest backstress increments, while the lowest backstresses were determined when quadratic brick elements were taken. Backstress increments are positioned in an intermediate level with the use of quadratic tetrahedron elements. The choice of the element type, shape, and number influenced material ratcheting response over the loading process. The use of quadratic brick elements elevated the simulated ratcheting curves. The quadratic tetrahedron and linear brick elements, however, suppressed ratcheting level as compared with those of experimental data. The closeness of the simulated ratcheting results to those of the measured values was found to be highly dependent on these finite element variables.