| Sumario: | ABSTRACT:
A two-dimensional Cellular Automata (CA) – Finite Element (FE) (CA-FE) coupled model has been developed to
predict the microstructures formed during the laser melting of a powdered AA-2024 feedstock using the Additive
Manufacturing (AM) process Selective Laser Melting (SLM). The presented CA model is coupled with a thermal FE
model, which computes the heat flow characteristics of the SLM process. The developed model considers the
powder-to-liquid-to-solid transformation, tracks the interaction between several melt pools within a melted
track, and several tracks within various layers. It was found that the calculated temperature profiles as well as
the simulated microstructures bared close resemblance with SLM fabricated AA-2024 samples. The developed
model was capable of predicting melt pool cooling and solidification rates, the type of microstructure obtained,
the size of the melt pool (with 14% error) and the heat affected zone, average grain size number (with 12%
error) and the growth competition present in microstructures of components manufactured via SLM.
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