Design for Additive Manufacturing: Tool Review and a Case Study

Abstract

This paper aims to collect in a structured manner different computer-aided engineering (CAE) tools especially developed for additive manufacturing (AM) that maximize the capabilities of this technology regarding product development. The flexibility of the AM process allows the manufacture of highly complex shapes that are not possible to produce by any other existing technology. This fact enables the use of some existing design tools like topology optimization that has already existed for decades and is used in limited cases, together with other novel developments like lattice design tools. These two technologies or design approaches demand a highly flexible manufacturing system to be applied and could not be used before, due to the conventional industrial process limitations. In this paper, these technologies will be described and combined together with other generic or specific design tools, introducing the study case of an additive manufactured mechanical design of a bicycle stem.