Topology optimization of aerospace part to enhance the performance by additive manufacturing process

Abstract

Additive Manufacturing (AM) technology is an advanced manufacturing process implemented for the manufacture of biomedical, automobile, and aerospace parts. The main advantages of AM process is having a freedom to design any complex structures, low material waste, and production time. Currently, metal AM process is expensive due to its powder cost. The cost of production can be minimized by reducing the material usage with the help of topology optimization. Topology optimization is a process of estimating optimum material distribution in a given design space of a product. In the present study the aerospace bracket was redesigned using topology optimization. In topology optimization to minimize residual stresses were also considered as they are more in the AM process due to the high thermal gradient. The bracket was redesigned using CAD and topology optimization was accomplished using numerical simulation. The part material distribution was redesigned using the level set-based topology optimization approach in numerical simulation and analyzed for factor of safety. The topology optimization reduces 44.8% weight of the part and achieves a factor of safety of 2.3. The AlSi12Mg alloy material data is considered for numerical analysis. The optimized part printing conditions were numerically simulated to minimize manufacturing time with minimal residual stresses. The simulated SLM process parameters are 80 W of laser power with a scan speed of 1000 mm/sec, and hatch spacing of 90 µm confers minimal residual stresses. The obtained results were validated with published research data of different kinds of brackets and which are inline. Hence, integration topology optimization design and additive manufacturing can be an efficient tool for lightweight structures considerations.