Systems and methods for performing thermal simulation of an additive manufacturing process

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for performing a thermal simulation of an additive manufacturing process. In embodiments, one or more data sets (such as a temperature dependent thermal conductivity matrix and a temperature dependent heat capacity matric) characterize an ease of heat flow through a three-dimensional (3D) geometry. The one or more data sets are used to determine a thermal solution for an explicit solution length, where the explicit solution length is a length along a scan line of one two dimensional (2D) slice of the 3D geometry. A thermal solution for the scan line is generated by propagating the thermal solution for the explicit solution length along sequential time steps of the scan line and using Eigenmodal cooling to adjust for cooling of a heat residual between sequential time steps. A thermal solution for the 2D slice is generated by propagating the thermal solution for the scan line along sequential scan lines of the 2D slice and using Eigenmodal cooling to adjust for cooling of a heat residual between sequential scan lines. A thermal solution for the 3D geometry is generated by propagating the thermal solution for the 2D slice along sequential 2D slices of the 3D geometry and using Eigenmodal cooling to adjust for cooling of a heat residual between sequential 2D slices.