FUNCTIONALLY GRADED MATERIAL (FGM) PARTS: FROM DESIGN TO THE MANUFACTURING SIMULATION

Recent developments in additive manufacturing processes add opportunities to manufacture metallic parts. One of major recent evolutions of additive manufacturing is the ability to produce parts with functionally graded materials (FGM). These materials can be characterized by the variation in composition and structure gradually over the volume. The use of these materials is' particularly attractive in fields such as aeronautical or biomedical where the multi-material parts allow modifying locally mechanical, chemical, physical or biochemical properties. Today, main of parts with FGM which are manufactured with these processes are not functional, with simple morphology, small dimensions and discrete multi-material repartition. To move from these samples to functional parts it is necessary to have a global control of the process used. It includes the control of all parameters - laser power, powder and gas flow rates, axis motions - and a manufacturing with an optimal strategy. A methodology to manufacture multi-material complex parts is proposed so as to have this global approach.