Speaker
Description
Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF), a widely used additive manufacturing method, is widely recognized for its cost-effectiveness and ability to produce complex geometries with high design flexibility. Despite these advantages, the layer-by-layer deposition process introduces inherent challenges, including anisotropic mechanical properties, internal voids, and weak interlayer bonding, all of which degrade the performance of printed parts. Addressing these issues requires a deeper understanding of the relationship between microstructure and the resulting mechanical properties.
To address these issues, this study presents a new algorithm for implementing periodic boundary conditions (PBCs) in Representative Volume Element (RVE) analysis, specifically designed to handle the complexities of simulating materials with complex geometries and microstructural variations.
The newly developed algorithm introduces an efficient formulation to ensure deformation compatibility across RVE boundaries, enabling accurate simulation of mechanical responses under various loading conditions. A key improvement of this algorithm is its simplified approach to identifying corresponding nodes on opposite boundaries, which significantly reduces computational complexity. As a result, the script's length was reduced by more than 50\% compared to the well-established reference algorithm, making it more compact and computationally efficient.
The algorithm was implemented in Python and integrated into the Abaqus finite element software for user-friendly application. It facilitates the calculation of effective elastic constants, such as Young’s modulus, shear moduli, and Poisson’s ratios, with high precision and was verified by comparison with a well-established algorithm from the literature, confirming its accuracy and reliability.
This streamlined algorithm and its efficient implementation enhance the computational process for modeling in additive manufacturing. By improving the efficiency of simulations, this study offers a practical tool for addressing challenges in the mechanical characterization of 3D-printed structures, contributing to the optimization of materials and components for various applications.
