Abstract

I describe our recent developments of a multiscale digital design and manufacturing workflow that simultaneously determines the macroscopic topology and the spatially-variable microstructure of 3D composite components based on a combination of data-driven statistical homogenization, finite element simulation, and multiscale topology optimization [1, 2].  Our approach results in a 3D map of anisotropic composite stiffness, parameterized by microstructure descriptors that depend on the specific additive manufacturing technology used to realize the component.  We apply our approach to 3D solid and multilayer plate composite components performing in static and dynamic settings - realizing them by additive manufacturing (both voxel-based photopolymer jetting and direct write technologies), and experimentally validating their performance.  I will describe the most recent extensions of our approach to continuous fiber composite structures where a computer graphics approach is used to translate the abstract design representation in terms of the spatially-variable anisotropic stiffness to physically realizable continuous fiber layouts in two and three dimensions.  Figures 1 shows an example of a components recently designed and fabricated with our digital workflow [1]. 

Figure 1: Optimal design and additive manufacture of the microstructure and macroscale topology of a composite structure – an ipad holder.

References

[1] N. Boddeti, Z. Ding,  S. Kaijima, K. Maute, and M. L. Dunn, M. L., 2018, "Simultaneous digital design and additive manufacture of structures and materials," 2018, Scientific Reports 8 (1), 15560.

[2] I. F. Ituarte, N. Boddeti, V. Hassani, M. L. Dunn, and D. W. Rosen, 2019, "Design and Additive Manufacture of Functionally Graded Structures Based on Digital Materials," Additive Manufacturing, Vol. 30, 100839.