Framework to Improve the Energy Performance During Design for Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

AbstractAdditive manufacturing (AM) is suitable for designing and producing complex components that are difficult or impossible to manufacture with conventional manufacturing processes. To ensure the design benefits of AM, novel design approaches such as structural topology optimization and cellular structure design are widely used and bring up the research domain of design for AM (DfAM). However, conventional DfAM approaches mainly focus on the geometry and manufacturability of AM components and rarely consider energy performance as an improvement objective. Given that the energy consumption in AM processes can be a great contributor to the overall environmental impact in the production stage with AM, the evaluation and improvement of the energy performance of AM should be considered in the DfAM approaches; otherwise, opportunities to improve the energy performance by changing product features are missed. To address this research question, we are proposing a framework that enables the evaluation and improvement of the energy performance of AM in the design stage resulting in a new method for DfAM. To validate the framework, two use cases are presented to illustrate the feasibility of developed methods and tools.