Additive Manufacturing or 3D Printing Abaqus simulation

What is additive manufacturing or 3D printing?

The process of building a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or digital 3D model is known as additive manufacturing or 3D printing. In an additive process, an object is made by adding layers of material one after another until the product is made. This process can be done via several methods in which material is joined, deposited, and solidified under computer control. The materials being added together could be made of plastics, liquids or powder grains being fused, etc. 3D printing Abaqus modeling is fully described in this training package.

Additive manufacturing or 3D printing simulation in ABAQUS

Why do we need to simulate 3D printing in Abaqus? Because of the same reasons, we do other simulations. Checking if there is any residual stress, checking temperature and thermal conditions, deflection in the model, etc. Moreover, to see if the machine’s settings suit our model’s conditions before printing to avoid unnecessary costs. Conditions like material properties, temperature, etc.

This 3D printing Abaqus training package will teach you to do this simulation with two methods: The first method is based on the use of subroutines and Python scripting and was done by a team with the goal of coding all the steps of 3D printing, and the second method uses ADM plug-in developed by Dassault Systemes company to simulate 3D printing process.

Method 1: Using Scripting and Subroutines 

In this method, we have three coding files. One is a Python script, and the others are USDFLD and DISP subroutines.

Python script: This script will do everything for us. Creating material properties, sections, interactions, basically anything that must be done in the Abaqus GUI, the code will do it for us. You just need to run the script, enter some inputs, and wait until the simulation is completed. About the modelling, you must create your model in CAD software or the Abaqus itself; then layer the model and save the layers as “igs” files. When you run the script, one of the inputs that you should insert is the directory path of these files.

USDFLD subroutine: With this subroutine, we calculate the elasticity properties because in the 3D printing process, the elasticity is not constant and changes during the process. The formulas used to calculate the elasticity in this tutorial are according to these references: “Rapid Prototyping & Manufacturing, Fundamentals of
Stereolithography“, “Curl Distortion Analysis During
Photopolymerisation of Stereolithography Using Dynamic Finite Element
Method“.

The formulas and equations are explained in the tutorial video completely. Of course, you can apply your own equations and assumptions to calculate the elasticity.

DISP subroutine: The temperature changes during the process will be calculated by the DISP subroutine. The formulas used to calculate the temperature changes are based on our assumptions. You can apply yours based on any references you see fit.

There are two workshops for this method, each using a different version of the python code. The first workshop simulates the 3D printing of gear, and this version of the python code used in this simulation is for uniform models. By uniform model, we mean that all layers must be identical if you layer the model. In this workshop, you have to create just one layer of your model in CAD software or the Abaqus itself and save it as an “igs” file; then, when you run the code, you must enter the directory path of the file and some inputs and wait till the job is completed. (3D printing ABAQUS)

In the second workshop, an industrial shaft will be simulated. There are no differences in the subroutine files except for some of their inputs. The version of the python code used in this simulation is for nonuniform models. This means the layers of the model are different. Therefore, we need to have all the layers as “igs” files. After the script is run, we insert the directory path of these files along with other inputs and wait till the job is completed. In this version of python code, there would be other differences as well, which will be explained in the video.

Method 2: Using the ADM plugin for 3D printing Abaqus

This method, which is the most advanced and accurate method of simulating 3D printing Abaqus, has been tried to give engineers the necessary facilities by using different techniques so that they can create the simulation with the closest conditions to the real model. In this method, the types of 3D printing methods and their applications are fully and comprehensively explained. After that, the method of using plugins will be explained by introducing the options and tools of this plugin. So, by solving numerous examples with all kinds of 3D printing Abaqus simulation methods for different parts, it is tried to provide complete mastery for the engineers, factories and researchers so that they can provide simulation for their models with the best possible speed and accuracy.

It would be useful to see Abaqus Documentation to understand how it would be hard to start an Abaqus simulation without any Abaqus tutorial.