Investigation of the effects of height of thin wall structure and deposition strategies on thermo-mechanical characteristics of G6 powder deposited on SCM440 substrate via a DED process

The advanced capabilities of directed energy deposition (DED) technology in manufacturing are expected to be utilized in production of thin wall structures. However, to unlock its full potential, research and development of the DED technology is required. The goal of this study was to investigate the effects of height of thin wall structure and deposition strategies on thermo-mechanical characteristics of G6 powder deposited on SCM440 substrate via a DED process. This study used finite element analysis (FEA) methods to simulate the deposition process. Laser heat source with Gaussian distribution was adopted for this study. Temperature dependent properties of G6 and SCM440 along with properties of air and shielding gas, were used for accurate estimations of temperature field during the deposition process. The changes in stress, displacement and distortion are discussed. Additionally, the effects of dwell time and preheating on thermo-mechanical characteristics of thin wall structures are compared.