Modeling of the stress-strain state of rocket-space technology structural elements manufactured by using additive technologies

One of the promising areas for improving the methods of manufacturing structural elements of rocket and space technology is the use of selective laser melting technology which represents a unique opportunity to manufacture metal products by melting powder and producing a one-piece solid phase structure. However, pores and other structural defects can appear in the formed element during laser sintering which causes a decrease in the strength characteristics of the parts produced. An important step in the additive technologies introduction is the development of methodology for the preliminary prediction of the strength characteristics of manufactured structural elements under the influence of mechanical loads with the help of mathematical modeling. The methodology for estimating the material strength reduction of a rocket-space technology element obtained using additive technologies by simulating a porous structure and calculating the characteristics of the stress-strain state is presented.

The proposed mathematical model and the methodology for calculating the specimen loading on the basis of the distortion energy theory allow calculating the stress-strain state in the process of numerical simulation for different values ​​of the pore diameter. The reduction in yield strength due to the material porosity of the part is estimated using a coefficient equal to the ratio of equivalent stresses arising when a load is applied to a specimen manufactured using traditional and additive technologies. The value of the introduced coefficient characterizes the structure of the grown product and is considered as a function of the random arrangement of pores in the specimen under study. The appearance of pores is the result of a combination of factors: the composition and dispersion of the original metal powder, feed rate, removal distance and laser power during sintering, part orientation and sintering direction, the height of the level of powder deposited on a special base before sintering, etc.

The paper evaluates the reduction in strength for the working part of a series of tensile test specimens grown from metal powder of different dispersity. The non-linear nature of the dependence of the yield strength on the particle diameter of the original metal powder is established. The maximum value of the yield strength corresponds to the specimen with the minimum value of the total surface area of the pores.