Selective laser melting: Evaluation of the effectiveness and reliability of multi-scale multiphysics simulation environments

This study evaluates the effectiveness and reliability of Multi-scale Multiphysics Selective Laser Melting (SLM) Simulation Environments. A literature review and bibliometric analysis were conducted to identify the most widely used SLM Simulation Environments. The effectiveness of simulation environments was assessed through a SWOT analysis enhanced by an Analytic Network Process (ANP). The reliability of simulation environments was analysed through a design of experiment (DoE). The DoE solely assessed the ability of these environments to accurately predict part distortion. The results showed that the most robust SLM process simulation modelling systems are Ansys Additive Print, Comsol, Simufact Additive, Netfabb, and Simulia.