Thermo-Calc 2024b Available Now

Webinar on Thermo-Calc 2024b Release

Watch our on-demand release webinar to learn about the exciting new features and new databases included in Thermo-Calc 2024b. In this webinar, four of the developers who worked on the release will speak directly about these exciting new developments.

Additive Manufacturing (AM) Module

The Additive Manufacturing Module receives several updates in this release, the most significant being the addition of Printability Maps, also known as process maps.

Printability Maps

Printability maps allow users to plot the likelihood of three possible defects that occur during additive manufacturing – keyholing, lack of fusion, and balling.

These three defects occur based on the speed and power used during the AM process, so printability maps allow you to reduce the risks of these defects by showing the speed and power settings that are optimal (the white area in the image below), allowing you to calibrate your system to avoid these issues.

A printability map calculated in the AM Module for the material 316L showing the power and scan speeds that are likely to result in keyholing (blue area) and lack of fusion (green area). The white area shows the power and scan speeds that are optimal to reduce the risk of these defects.

You can learn more about this new feature in the release notes or by joining our release webinar. 

Two New Calculation Types

The Additive Manufacturing Module also adds two new calculation types for Steady-state simulations – Batch and Grid. And three new plot types to visualize these new calculations, including the printability maps discussed above.

The new calculation types allow users to compare how a range of power and scan speeds affect the melt pool dimensions.

A screenshot showing the new Batch Calculation type in the Additive Manufacturing Module, which allows users to input power and scan speed data from a file. Users can include experimental melt pool dimensions and compare them to the calculated results using the new Parity Plot, as shown.

The Batch calculation type allows users to input power and scan speed data from a file, such as a spreadsheet. Users can include experimental melt pool dimensions, if they have them, and compare them to the calculated results using a new plot type called a Parity Plot. This calculation can also be visualized using another new plot type called Melt Pool vs Energy Density, which shows the melt pool dimensions as a function of energy density, or with the new printability maps we discussed earlier.

A screenshot of the new Grid Calculation type in the AM Module, which allows users to evaluate power and scan speed for a fixed range and number of steps, as shown in the red box. Results are visualized using the new Melt Pool vs Energy Density plot type.

The Grid calculation type evaluates power and scan speed for a fixed range and number of steps. Results are visualized using the new Printability Map or the Melt Pool vs Energy density plot type.  

Both new calculation types can also be visualized using 3D plots and plot over line, which were already in the software. A dropdown menu has been added so that users can view these plots for each of the data sets. 

Keyhole Model Adds Fluid Flow

The keyhole model in the Additive Manufacturing Module has been expanded to include fluid flow, which provides a better prediction of the melt pool size.

The keyhole model was originally introduced last December in Thermo-Calc 2024a to improve on predicting the depth of the melt pool. Keyholing can occur with low scanning speed and high power. By adding fluid flow to the model, the program now offers more accurate predictions of the entire melt pool size, which is especially important at higher energy densities when Marangoni forces are strong.

Results of a steady state calculation for the material SS316L, comparing Thermo-Calc 2024a without fluid flow (left image) to Thermo-Calc 2024b with fluid flow (right image). A keyhole can be seen formed just below the location of the heat source in both images. However, the addition of fluid flow to the keyhole model makes the prediction of the melt pool size, which is represented by the inner, thin green line, more accurate in 2024b.

New Features and Products for Titanium Users

Thermo-Calc 2024b includes several new products for Titanium users. In addition to those listed below, a new Ti/TiAl-based Alloys database is available, TCTI6.

Brand-new Titanium Model Library

A Titanium Model Library is introduced. This is a package of pre-built Property Models that allow for easy set up of some of the most common calculations used by those working with Titanium-based alloys.

A screenshot of the new Titanium Model Library showing the Ms temperature and T-Zero temperature for alpha martensite as a function of the mole fraction of Zr with experimental data from [1952Du, 1965McM, and 1970Hua].

Two Property Models are included in the new Titanium Model Library. Alloy Strength – Ti, which calculates the hardness for Ti-base alloys. And Martensite Temperatures – Ti, which calculates the martensite start temperature (Ms) and T-Zero temperatures for Ti-base alloys.

Model for Elastic Modulus and Plot Variables Added

Elastic properties are introduced in Thermo-Calc 2024b. As of this release, three elastic moduli are available for plotting and analysis: bulk modulus, shear modulus, and Young’s modulus. You can also calculate and plot the independent elastic constants of cubic and hexagonal phases (C11, C12, C13, C33, C44). The moduli and constants can be plotted per phase or for all phases.

Effect of oxygen on Young’s modulus in HCP_A3 titanium compared to experimental data [1957Gra; 1966Fed; 1971Hsu].

In this release, the elastic properties are only available in the new version of the Titanium and TiAl-based alloys database, TCTI6. 

Elastic properties will be added to additional databases in upcoming releases.

New Setting for Parallelization of Property Calculations

The Property Model Calculator receives a significant speed improvement in the 2024b release with the introduction of Parallel Calculations. The program now divides calculations into smaller jobs and runs them all at the same time, significantly decreasing the time it takes the program to complete the calculations.

This feature is turned on by default, but users can turn it off for each calculation or reduce the number of parallel calculations to suit their machine. Users can also change the global default setting from Tools > Options on the General tab. The setting is called Parallel calculation for Property Model Calculator.

Martensitic Steel Strength Model Improved

The Martensitic Steel Strength Model in the Steel Model Library has several improvements in the 2024b release, the primary being the addition of a new Tempering time (s) field, which predicts the time dependent effect on tempering.

This new feature is primarily based on the physical models listed below, but it was improved upon using a machine learning model that was trained on a large dataset covering mainly carbon and low-alloy steels. You can read more about this in our online help system and release notes.

A screenshot of Thermo-Calc showing the new Tempering time (s) field in the Martensitic Steel Strength Model in the Steel Model Library.