Browsing by Subject "multiple materials"

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Design for Additive Manufacturing: An Investigation of Key Manufacturing Considerations in Multi-Material PolyJet 3D Printing
(University of Texas at Austin, 2014) Meisel, Nicholas A.; Williams, Christopher B.
The PolyJet material jetting process is uniquely qualified to create complex, multi-material structures. However, there is currently a lack of understanding and characterization regarding important manufacturing considerations to guide designers in their use of the PolyJet process. This paper investigates key considerations necessary to ensure that proposed designs are manufacturable and that part properties are appropriate for the intended use. Considerations included in this paper include 1) minimum manufacturable feature size, 2) removal of support material from channels, 3) survivability of small features during water jet cleaning, and 4) the maximum self-supporting angle of printed parts in the absence of support material. The result of this work is an understanding of which geometric and process variables affect these manufacturing considerations. This understanding is crucial for the creation of a set of Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) guidelines to help designers create ideal, manufacturable parts with less iteration and provide constraints for insertion into automated design processes such as topology optimization.
Multiple-Material Topology Optimization of Compliant Mechanisms Created via Polyjet 3D Printing
(University of Texas at Austin, 2013) Meisel, Nicholas A.; Gaynor, Andrew; Williams, Christopher B.; Guest, James K.
Compliant mechanisms are able to transfer motion, force, and energy using a monolithic structure without discrete hinge elements. The geometric design freedoms and multi-material capability offered by the PolyJet 3D printing process enables the fabrication of compliant mechanisms with optimized topology. The inclusion of multiple materials in the topology optimization process has the potential to eliminate the narrow, weak, hinge-like sections that are often present in single-material compliant mechanisms. In this paper, the authors propose a design and fabrication process for the realization of 3-phase, multiple-material compliant mechanisms. The process is tested on a 2D compliant force inverter. Experimental and theoretical performance of the resulting 3-phase inverter is compared against a standard 2-phase design.