Tiling of Microstructures According to the Density Values of SIMP Topology Optimization

Abstract

In this study, a topologically optimized part is remodeled with microstructures to increase its strength-to-weight ratio. Firstly, the Solid Isotropic Material with Penalization (SIMP) method is applied on the selected part. The SIMP method finds the optimum material distribution in a design domain and creates solid-void formations whose densities are 0 or 1. Setting a higher penalization factor in the method avoids having regions with intermediate densities which are difficult to manufacture with the conventional fabrication methods. However, maintaining the intermediate density regions on the optimized part may result in a better performance. In order to investigate the idea, in this study, the SIMP method is applied with and without penalization and the entire design domain is filled with variable types of microstructures. Results of the proposed method are compared with the parts optimized by different techniques through finite element analysis and mechanical tests.