A line-based infill optimization method for Material Extrusion Additive Manufacturing

Date

2023-9-07

Author

UNCU, Rahman

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Additive Manufacturing (AM) constitutes diverse manufacturing processes capable of producing intricately shaped components, a departure from conventional fabrication methods. As in the early days of AM, the primary motivation was manufacturing parts for prototyping; however, the mechanical properties of these parts have now assumed paramount importance due to the intention of applying these components as end products. Additionally, AM’s advantage of fabricating intricate geometries that were previously challenging using traditional manufacturing methods has led to a surge in the adoption of topology optimization methods. This has sparked a growing interest in strategies to design AM parts with improved mechanical behavior, making it a current focal point of research. This thesis proposes a novel infill optimization approach to improve AM parts’ me chanical behavior. Specifically tailored for material extrusion AM processes, this strategy utilizes a line-based infill optimization approach. This optimization strategy had been meticulously tested across two loading scenarios to ascertain its effective ness. The mechanical behaviors of the optimized infill geometries were benchmarked against commonly used linear infill patterns prevalent in 3D printing through com prehensive structural testing. The tests yielded notable improvements in the strength- to-weight ratios for the test samples when optimized infill patterns were employed, in contrast to the other linear infill options. Specifically, these enhancements were substantial, with an increase of nearly 40% observed in the ABS samples, ranging from 55% to 75% in the case of 17-4PH Stainless Steel samples, and an approximate boost of 30% in the 316L Stainless Steel samples. This comprehensive study’s outcomes unequivocally indicate the potency of the pro posed methodology, which empowers designers to attain AM components with vastly improved mechanical behavior. This research demonstrates significant promise within AM, where mechanical performance enhancement is a pivotal consideration in design and production.

Subject Keywords

Infill optimization, Mechanical behavior, Fused filament fabrication, Metal additive manufacturing

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/105332

Collections

Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Thesis