Design for 4D printing: Modeling and computation of smart materials distributions

Germain Sossou,Frédéric Demoly,Hadrien Belkebir,H Jerry Qi,Samuel Gomes,Ghislain Montavon

doi:10.1016/j.matdes.2019.108074

Abstract

The material complexity allowed by additive manufacturing (AM) has made smart materials (SMs) processing easier than usually, giving birth to the so called 4D printing (4DP). This has expanded further the design space around AM. Yet, for this design space to be embraced by designers, there is the need to make SMs modeling and simulation easier, especially in conceptual design. Previously, efforts have been dedicated to a voxel-based modeling and simulation framework for SMs showing how important are material distributions (MDs) when it comes to design for 4DP. Here, a twofold contribution is made to design for 4DP. First a computational tool embodying the previously developed theoretical framework is introduced. This tool – VoxSmart – harnesses the power and the convenience of the graphical algorithm editor Grasshopper® within the CAD software Rhinoceros® to SMs modeling and simulation. The tool basically allows for an easy simulation of any MD. Given a source shape and a target shape of the same part, a set of materials (conventional/smart) and a stimulus, finding the right MD that yields the appropriate transformation upon exposure to the stimulus is quite challenging. This is the core of the second contribution. An adaptive compliant wing of a micro unmanned aerial vehicle is presented as case study.

Highlights

In the wake of the emergence of additive manufacturing (AM) from a rapid prototyping process to a manufacturing process, there is another breakthrough in manufacturing: 4D printing (4DP)
In an initial research effort dedicated to Design for 4D printing (DF4DP) [21], we introduced a voxel-based theoretical framework for modeling and simulating SMs
The shape complexity allowed by RH and GH has prompted us to develop a GH plugin for materializing our SMs modeling and simulation scheme: VoxSmart; the plugin has been scripted in the programming language C#

Summary

Introduction

In the wake of the emergence of additive manufacturing (AM) from a rapid prototyping process to a manufacturing process, there is another breakthrough in manufacturing: 4D printing (4DP). MD is of high importance when it comes to design the material-is-the-mechanism [12] like structures This still holds even when SMs are not involved: a specific distribution of the same (conventional) material with void can yield unconventional behavior, which is well demonstrated by the so-called metamaterials [15, 16]. In an initial research effort dedicated to Design for 4D printing (DF4DP) [21], we introduced a voxel-based theoretical framework for modeling and simulating SMs. The modeling scheme has been demonstrated to be able to simulate the behavior of conventional materials and shape changing SMs. Theses SMs include piezoelectric material, electro-/magneto-/photostrictive materials and hydrogels. As such the reader is advised to refer to [21] for the theoretical foundations behind VoxSmart and the proposed MD computation engine

Introduction to VoxSmart

Design of an adaptive compliant wing