Simulation Analysis of Temperature Change in FDM Process Based on ANSYS APDL and Birth-Death Element Technology

Area of Science:

• Additive Manufacturing
• Materials Science
• Computational Mechanics

Background:

• Temperature changes in Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) are nonlinear and critical for printing efficiency, accuracy, and warpage.
• Understanding thermal evolution and thermomechanical behavior is essential for optimizing the FDM process.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and present a finite element simulation framework for analyzing temperature evolution and thermomechanical behavior during FDM.
• To investigate the dynamic simulation of the complete printing and cooling cycle in FDM.

Main Methods:

• Integration of ANSYS Parametric Design Language (APDL) with birth-death element technology for finite element simulation.
• Dynamic simulation of layer-by-layer material deposition and subsequent thermal history.
• Thermomechanical coupling analysis to evaluate stress and strain distribution.

Main Results:

• Temperature distribution exhibits a gradient along the printing path, with peripheral heat dissipation and central heat accumulation.
• Significant stress concentration (310 MPa) observed at the part bottom.
• Progressive strain increase from bottom (3.68 × 10^-5 m) to top (2.95 × 10^-4 m).

Conclusions:

• The integrated simulation framework effectively predicts thermal-induced deformations in FDM.
• Numerical predictions show strong agreement with experimental validation (temperature deviations < 8%, strain errors < 5%).
• The approach provides a valuable tool for optimizing FDM process parameters to enhance part quality and minimize warpage.