Optimal topology for additive manufacture: A method for enabling additive manufacture of support-free optimal structures

By Martin Leary, L. Merli, F. Torti, Maciej Mazur, Milan Brandt. 2014

357 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract Topology optimisation enables profound insight into the optimal material distribution for a given structural objective, applied loading and boundary conditions. The topologically optimal geometry is often geometrically complex and incompatible with traditional manufacturing methods. Additive manufacture can accommodate significantly more complex geometries than traditional manufacture; however, it is necessary that specific design rules be satisfied to ensure manufacturability. Based on identified design for additive manufacture rules, a novel method is proposed that modifies the theoretically optimal topology as required to ensure manufacturability without requiring additional support material. By assessing the manufacturing time and component mass associated with feasible orientations of the proposed geometry, an optimal orientation can be identified. A case study is presented to demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed method.

Subfields: Automotive Engineering, Civil and Structural Engineering, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/fbfd91e893716aa937704f1a8a75c984f3aea6ec

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Citations in the corpus

Topology optimization of 3D self-supporting structures for additive manufacturing (2016, methodology): “As an alternative approach, Leary et al. (2014) proposed to augment the original optimized design with additional structures [20], such that the ﬁnal geometry is fully self-supporting.”
Topological design and additive manufacturing of porous metals for bone scaffolds and orthopaedic implants: A review. (2016, background): “There were also attempts to design structures so that they could be fabricated using AM without support [122].”
Current and future trends in topology optimization for additive manufacturing (2018, background): “[41] Leary M, Merli L, Torti F, Mazur M, Brandt M.”
Advanced robotics and additive manufacturing of composites: towards a new era in Industry 4.0 (2021, background): “Leary et al.([321]) studied AM of topologically optimal components by identifying the optimal fiber orientation to avoid supports.”
An additive manufacturing filter for topology optimization of print-ready designs (2016, background): “Others have proposed a procedure to augment a previously optimized design with additional structures, to make it self-supporting (Leary et al. 2014).”
Deformation and failure behaviour of Ti-6Al-4V lattice structures manufactured by selective laser melting (SLM) (2015, background): “Particular constraints are imposed by overhanging geometry, and geometry that has excessive resistance to heat transfer, resulting in overheating during manufacture [1, 20, 22].”
Metal additive manufacturing in the commercial aviation industry: A review (2019, background): “Closeup of build support strategies, (a) successful build with support, (b) failed to build with no support, (c) successful build with self-supporting structure [210].”
Design for Additive Manufacturing (2019, methodology): “[185] produced topology optimized cantilever beams with and without support structures using FDM (Fig.”
Length scale and manufacturability in density-based topology optimization (2016, methodology): “The approach presented in [95] is essentially a post processing step and as discussed”
Support Structures for Additive Manufacturing: A Review (2018, methodology): “[97] proposed an automated method to modify topologically optimal geometries as required to enable support-free manufacture.”
Support structure constrained topology optimization for additive manufacturing (2016, methodology): “Leary [14] introduced the idea of self-supporting designs, where the TO optimized design was altered to include features similar to support structures.”