SECTION TITLE
ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING
Multifunctional lightweighting via 3D
printing can enhance the performance of parts such as heat exchangers
material out of the structure, the more this will cost due to additional machining operations. On the other hand, McDevitt explains, using additive manufacturing to lightweight a part can actually decrease the cost of a part. “For various industrial sectors we can identify a cost axis based on the appetite for lightweighting,” he says. “Aerospace companies, for example, are prepared to pay more to lightweight their parts than perhaps those in the commercial automotive industry or a manufacturer of pipe pumps that go on a plant floor, where weight is less of a factor. Additive manufacturing is therefore becoming increasingly attractive for those industries that can achieve lightweighting at a reduced cost than is possible with subtractive methods. As certification of additively manufactured parts and technologies continues, this play between cost and lightweighting will open up the economic
The software’s lattice generation and shell and infill capabilities help to reduce unnecessary material
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sense of the technology to different sectors.” So, how does nTopology fit into this?
McDevitt explains that in the past new materials have largely been the focus of
lightweighting attempts, followed by the development of different manufacturing methods such as CNC machining and injection moulding. During this time, the design of parts has generally remained the same, but now engineers are looking at how parts can be re-engineered to take full advantage of the manufacturing method and materials in use. “Redesigning parts for additive manufacturing is the area we are focused on, and there are five key aspects of our software that allows engineers to do this in order to achieve a better product design,” McDevitt says. “One area is topology optimisation, which is a form of generative design where the engineer specifies the functional requirements of a part and the design space, and then the software determines where to put the material to provide that functional performance. Te second aspect is using lattice structures – the repetition of a base structure in all directions to produce an overall structure – which provides the desired stiffness and structural integrity but without all the material of a solid component.” Te third feature of the
nTopology software is shell and infill,
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