QuesTek Innovations was recently featured in the winter edition of AM Metal Magazine, the go-to authority on the fast-evolving metal Additive Manufacturing landscape.
In this multi-part series, we will present portions of the article, as each section tells its own story. Today, we offer a 30,000 foot view of Integrated Computational Materials Design (ICMD®), which is currently undergoing early test and evaluation by a leading research university and two innovative materials-intensive product companies. Results of those early evaluations will be provided with the general availability of ICMD® subscriptions beginning at mid-year 2023.
Integrated Computational Materials Design (ICMD®) combines fundamental computational physics and informatics with systematic experimentation and advanced manufacturing. It integrates a top-down methodology, using informatics tools to mine materials databases, product characteristics, and manufacturing process performance with bottom-up multiscale modeling based on fundamental physics.
ICMD®places a major emphasis on the process structure-properties-performance (PSPP) relationship to gain an understanding of how processes produce material structures, how those structures give rise to material properties, and how those properties produce specific performance to enable the better selection and development of materials for a given application.
Both process-structure and structure property models are examined and modified in ICMD® to optimize results. It is the ‘I’ (Integrated) in ICMD® that counts; the integration of multiple materials modeling tools linked together is what supports a full understanding of selection, development, and performance in an Additive Manufacturing application.
In this model of a material, the four components are linked with physics based models of the interactions. The model starts with the process. In the case of Additive Manufacturing, the process includes the elemental composition of the alloy, the powder characteristics, thermal histories, and various laser parameters. By inputting this process, the microstructure of the material can be predicted using first principle, fundamental physics. Such structures include matrix phase properties, grain structure, solidification characteristics, defects that may be generated, and more.
Once the structure of a material has been predicted, another set of physics-based models is used to predict the properties associated with that structure. Typical material properties include density, mechanical properties, electrical conductivity, and susceptibility to hot cracking, among others.
Once the properties of the material are determined, yet another set of physics-based relationships can be applied to the material’s performance. This enables the user to target a broad spectrum of performance attributes, from toughness, thermal properties, fatigue, corrosion, and creep, to sustainability.
Read the full article to learn more about how QuesTek’s s ICMD® platform is enabling faster, cheaper and more successful development of new alloys for metal Additive Manufacturing, as well as the build parameters to process them.
About QuesTek
QuesTek empowers innovators by resolving materials challenges.
QuesTek is both a pioneer and current market leader in Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME). QuesTek’s Materials by Design® technology is proven to reduce the development time and cost and increase the performance of novel materials. In its market space, QuesTek is the first and only provider to execute the full cycle from novel design to production, certification, and flight operations with proprietary materials, in a fraction of the time and cost of traditional, or purely algorithmic methods.
For more information, please contact Severine Valdant, Chief Commercial Officer, at svaldant@questek.com.