ExaAM: Additive manufacturing process modeling at the fidelity of the microstructure

In FY17, the USDOE Exascale Computing Project (ECP) initiated projects to design and develop simulation codes to use exascale computing, including the Exascale Additive Manufacturing Project (ExaAM), a partnership between LLNL, LANL, and ORNL. Exascale Computing will enable AM process modeling at the fidelity of the microstructure. Here we discuss what this means, in particular, tight coupling of Process-Structure-Property calculations. Macroscopic continuum codes are used to simulation the metal melt-refreeze, within which mesoscopic codes (PF and CA) are used to simulate the development of microstructure. This microstructure is then used by crystal plasticity codes to calculate local properties. Here we focus on in situ coupling so that the calculated microstructure is relevant to the complex thermo-mechanical conditions of AM processing. Examples will be given for the SLM process of metal additive manufacturing along with comparison to experimental observations.