Morphable Components Topology Optimization for Additive Manufacturing

This paper addresses two issues: 1. Topology optimization (TO) yields designs that may require support structures if additively manufactured, which increase material and clean-up costs. 2. Material anisotropy is induced during additive manufacturing, which results in inaccurate TO results if such material properties are not included in the algorithm. This paper, based on a moving morphable components (MMC) approach where structure is composed of several building blocks, introduces constraints for minimum build angle, as well as a penalty constraint for building blocks with no support material below, so that the TO output is completely printable. Additionally, orthotropic material properties are integrated in the optimization. In a separate optimization algorithm, each building block is assumed to have its own fiber orientation.