PREDICTION OF MICROSTRUCTURE EVOLUTION IN DMLM PROCESSED INCONEL 718 WITH PART SCALE SIMULATION ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING (AM) COMMONLY REFERRED TO AS 3D PRINTING IS NOW CAPABLE OF MANUFACTURING COMPLEX-SHAPED METAL COMPONENTS STRONG ENOUGH FOR MECHANICAL APPLICATIONS. HOWEVER MECHANICAL PROPERTIES CONTROLLED BY MICROSTRUCTURE IN AN AM MATERIAL CAN VARY NOTABLY WITHIN A PART AND BETWEEN DIFFERENT PARTS DEPENDING ON THE PROCESS PARAMETERS COMPOSITION OF THE FEEDSTOCK MATERIALS. THIS VARIABILITY IN MICROSTRUCTURE AND MATERIAL PROPERTIES MAKES CERTIFICATION OF CERTAIN AM PROCESS FOR A PART DIFFICULT. CURRENTLY THE ONLY WAY TO CERTIFY AN AM PART FOR SPACE MISSION IS TO PERFORM EXTENSIVE MICROSTRUCTURE AND PROPERTY CHARACTERIZATION EXPERIMENTS WHICH IS BOTH TIME-CONSUMING AND EXPENSIVE. IN SOME OF `PROCESS MAPPING RESEARCHES ONLY A QUALITATIVE PREDICTION OF THE OVERALL MORPHOLOGIES I.E. COLUMNAR EQUIAXED OR MIXED IS DISCUSSED. IN ADDITION NONE OF THESE STUDIES WAS INTEGRATED WITH MATERIALS THERMOKINETIC DATABASES FOR TEMPERATURE AND COMPOSITION DEPENDENT INPUTS. THEREFORE THE PRESENT MICROSTRUCTURE DESIGN FOR AM PART CAN BE ONLY CLASSIFIED AS TRL (TECHNOLOGY READINESS LEVEL) 1. IN ORDER TO OVERCOME THIS ISSUE AND ENABLE A SIMULATION-BASED CERTIFICATION PARADIGM THE PROJECT TEAM AIMS TO DEVELOP PART-SCALE PROCESS-MICROSTRUCTURE SIMULATION TOOL TO PREDICT THE MICROSTRUCTURE EVOLUTION INCLUDING PHASE STABILITY OF INCONEL 718 PROCESSED BY POWDER BED LASER FUSION PROCESS. SPECIFICALLY THE PROPOSED PROCESS MODEL WILL FIRST PERFORM A FINITE ELEMENT BASED HEAT TRANSFER ANALYSIS OF THE AM PROCESS TO PROVIDE A RELIABLE TEMPERATURE PROFILE OVER THE ENTIRE COMPONENT VOLUME WHICH IS THEN EMPLOYED TO PREDICT THE MICROSTRUCTURE THROUGHOUT THE PART BASED ON AN INTEGRATED MICROSTRUCTURE SIMULATION MODEL FOR COMPLEX THERMAL CYCLES. THE RESOLUTION OF THE NEWLY DEVELOPED PROCESS-MICROSTRUCTURE MODEL WILL HELP TO VISUALIZE (1) GRAIN MORPHOLOGY AND TEXTURE OF THE MATRIX PHASE AND (2) PHASE TRANSFORMATION AND INSTABILITY OF DIFFERENT PRECIPITATES FOR AN AM PART GIVEN THE INPUT PROCESS PARAMETERS. THE DEVELOPED PROCESS-MICROSTRUCTURE SIMULATION TOOL WILL PROVIDE SUFFICIENTLY ACCURATE FEEDBACK TO DESIGN AND OPTIMIZE LASER PROCESSING TO IMPROVE THE AM PRODUCT QUALITY. A GREAT INTEREST OF NASA IS IMPROVING THE PERFORMANCE OF STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS FOR HIGH TEMPERATURE APPLICATIONS SUCH AS JET ENGINE PARTS WHERE BOTH CREEP AND STRENGTH ARE CRITICAL AND NEED TO BE DESIGNED FOR. THEREFORE THE METHODOLOGY DEVELOPED IN THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL INTRODUCE AN EFFICIENT WAY TO GOVERN THE IN-SITU MICROSTRUCTURE EVOLUTION DURING LASER PROCESS WHICH WILL DIRECTLY DRIVE THE OPTIMIZATION FOR BETTER MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF AM PARTS. IT IS EXPECTED THAT THE ACHIEVEMENT OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL HAVE SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON NASAS STRATEGIC PLAN TO EMPLOY AM TO DRASTICALLY IMPROVE THE PERFORMANCE WEIGHT AND COST OF FLIGHT HARDWARE FOR SPACE MISSION. GIVEN THE ABILITY OF AM TO FABRICATE PARTS WITH SPATIALLY-VARYING MICROSTRUCTURAL FEATURES BY DYNAMICALLY CHANGING THE PROCESS PARAMETERS MECHANICAL PERFORMANCE CAN BE ENHANCED SIGNIFICANTLY BY OPTIMIZING THE PROCESS AND MICROSTRUCTURE ACCORDINGLY. SERVING AS THE TECHNICAL INNOVATION ENTITIES THE PROPOSED RESEARCH (1) INCORPORATE MATERIALS THERMOKINETICS INTO THERMAL MODELING FOR CYCLIC SUPERHEATING AND SUPERCOOLING PROCESSES; (2) DEVELOP A NEW INTEGRATED PHASE TRANSFORMATION AND GRAIN TEXTURE MODEL TO PREDICT MICROSTRUCTURE EVOLUTION UNDER COMPLEX HEATING AND COOLING CYCLES WITH HIGH FIDELITY; (3) EXPLORE SIMULTANEOUS TIME SCALE PARALLELIZATION AND ADAPTIVE MESHING TO ACCELERATE THERMAL MODELING FOR PART-SCALE PROCESS SIMULATION. THESE INNOVATIONS WILL LEAD TO A ROBUST SIMULATION TOOLKIT CAPABLE OF PREDICTING MICROSTRUCTURE IN AN AS-FABRICATED AM PART GIVEN THE PROCESS PARAMETERS. AN INTEGRATED COMPUTATIONAL MATERIALS ENGINEERING (ICME) CODE FOR AM MICROSTRUCTURE DESIGN WILL BECOME AVAILABLE AFTER TH