A New Fatigue Damage Framework Incorporating Process‐Induced Residual Stress for Fatigue Life Prediction of SLM‐Fabricated AlSi10Mg

ABSTRACT Selective laser melting (SLM) involves complex thermomechanical interactions and process‐induced residual stresses that strongly influence fatigue behavior. In this study, a thermomechanical numerical framework combining transient heat transfer, thermomechanical coupling, and continuum damage mechanics (CDM) is established for fatigue assessment of additively manufactured metallic materials. The influences of SLM process parameters on thermal history and residual stress evolution are first examined, showing that severe temperature gradients generate highly nonuniform residual stress fields. The obtained residual stresses are subsequently incorporated into a damage mechanics‐based finite element model for fatigue analysis. The proposed method is applied to SLM‐manufactured AlSi10Mg, and the predicted fatigue lives show good agreement with experimental results. Furthermore, the effects of laser power and scanning speed on fatigue damage evolution are systematically evaluated. Higher laser power and lower scanning speed are found to accelerate damage accumulation and shorten fatigue life.