Infosheet BUILD STAGE
Inherent strains
Three values of inherent strains are input in the build stage dialog
(ex, ey, ez). These values are unitless and are defined in local
coordinates in three directions (X, Y and Z). Default values will be
shown in the dialog (ex = -0.008, ey = -0.003, ez = -0.03).
What are the inherent strain values?
The inherent strains are the strains produced in the building
process by thermal strains, plastic strains and phase
transformation. These strains can either be calibrated from
experiments (e.g. by measuring the distortion after cutting a printed
cantilever beam and running simulations to match the experimental
distortion values) or estimated based on process parameters.
Inherent strains estimation by process parameters
To estimate the inherent strain values based on process
parameters, left click on Estimation. After this, an input dialog for
process parameters will pop-up. All these parameters are physical
quantities, except the welding efficiency that is a dimensionless
parameter.
To proceed with the estimation left click on Calculate estimate.
After the estimation has done, the new calculated inherent strain
values will be updated in the main screen. In the process
parameters, the user can either input the power or left click on to
consider the voltage and the current used by the machine.
If the material has not been uploaded yet in the project, the
estimation will not be possible.
The inherent strain estimation should only be considered as a
reference value. To assure accurate results, it is recommended
to use the calibration method.
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Infosheet BUILD STAGE

Layer thickness Using the database

Is the thickness of a layer added in each manufacturing increment.
Scan width
Is the maximum laser travel distance during hatching exposure.
Use the database tab, to either save or import material and
process parameters. The database contains not only the inherent
strain values, but all the parameters explained in this document.

This value is only used for information. It has no influence on the

estimation or simulation.
Importing databases
The product library contains databases from already calibrated
Start angle materials. Click on the correspondent library to import the inherent
Is the angle of orientation with respect to the base plate x direction. strain values into dialog.
Default value is 0.

Incremental angle
Is the orientation of the new consecutive printed layers. Default
value is 67.

Saving databases
Click on the icon and browse for a directory to save the material
database.

The inherent strain values depend on the machine type and the
manufacturing parameters. To achieve accurate results, it is
recommended to perform a calibration. The product library can
be used to save and retrieve reference values.

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Infosheet BUILD STAGE
Specimen macro analysis calibration process
In this process, up to three cantilever specimens are used to
calibrate the inherent strain values. The three cantilevers are
placed at 0, 45 and 90 of orientation.
The dimensions and position are fixed. To achieve accurate results,
it is recommended to use the same geometry for the real build. The
geometry can be downloaded from the demos and examples
Cantilever Beam (simufact\additive\1.0\examples\cantilever\CAD-
Data)
Experimental measurement
In the calibration analysis, we use the same scan strategy in the
global system for all the cantilever beams. An incremental angle of
0 is used as a fixed value.
The number of cantilever beams considered is optional.
However, a minimum of two specimens positioned at 0 and 90
are recommended. Printing the cantilever oriented at 45 is
optimal for the analysis.
After printing the specimens, please proceed to cut the samples at
the middle of teeth.
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Infosheet BUILD STAGE

Measuring distortion Use the check marks to indicate if a sample (e.g. 45) should be
included or not in the calibration. By clicking on the unit tab,
Measure the maximum z-distortion or height after cutting each
you can indicate the input units desired for the experimental values
printed cantilever beam. To achieve optimal results, measure each (e.g. in).
sample at the center of the cantilever.

Acceptable deviation
Is correlated with the certainty of the calibration. A large value is
correlated with less CPU time at the expense of a more
uncertainty. A small value will lead to accurate results, but more
simulations will be required. The default value is 3%.

Inserting the experimental measurements

The experimental measurements are input in the calibration
parameters. The input values are not the Max. Z-height, but the
displacement associated: z max target =z measured z initial
Maximum steps
In the calibration, this value should be always greater than 0. Is the maximum number of simulations that will be considered in
the analysis. The default value is 200.

Calibrate ez
If this option is enabled, the inherent strain values in the z direction
will be considered in the calibration. By default it is not taken into
account, as the influence on the distortion and stress of the part is
low.

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