A Microstructure-Informed Multiscale Structural Analysis and Design Framework for Next Generation High Performance Material Systems and Structural Components

Many new revolutionary concepts have emerged recently as viable pathways to invent next generation high performance structural components. With the emergence of additive manufacturing (AM) and its rapid advances for metals and alloys, practical realization of these concepts is imminent. However, the lack of microstructure-informed structural analysis and design tools is a critical gap in the field that the proposed research is intended to fill. Additive Manufacturing LLC, in collaboration with Clarkson University and U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), proposes the development of a microstructure-informed multiscale structural analysis and design framework (MSADF) for the analysis, design, development, testing and validation of high performance structural components built using next generation revolutionary material systems and design concepts.The MSADF is a software solution that integrates advanced computational and experimental methods to address various challenges arising from the uncertainties associated with the complex heterogeneous microstructure. In essence, it consists of a suite of advanced constitutive models, a multiscale platform such as NASArsquo;s FEAMAC and experimental methods to extract material properties at microstructural length scale. In the proposed Phase II Ramp;D, microstructure informed constitutive models for AM manufactured Ti-64, ME3, and high entropy alloys will be developed and experimentally validated. nbsp;The performance of MSDAF as an advanced structural analysis tool will be evaluated by performing the analysis of two AM manufactured real life components: a ME3 engine disk and a NAVY bracket. Similarly, to evaluate MSDAF as a design tool, a microstructurally optimal design of the NAVY bracket will be determined. The original and re-designed brackets will be manufactured by choosing appropriate AM process parameters, and their predicted performances will be experimentally validated.