A Multi-Physics Modeling Framework for Laser Welding and Additive Manufacturing of Metals

Understanding the process-microstructure-property relationship is critical for laser welding and additive manufacturing of metals. A modeling-based framework to investigate this relationship can quantitative insight that may not be available through experimental approach. As the first step, a computational physics model is established to investigate the laser-matter interaction and multi-phase thermo-fluid flow in the laser-induced melt pool. Then computational materials models are leveraged to predict the microstructure formation during the solidification processes, based on the melt pool information provided by the computational physics model. Finally, computational mechanics models are used to predict the mechanical responses of the products to certain mechanical loading conditions. The technical approaches and typical results will be introduced in this talk, and the future works to further develop this framework will be discussed.