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Conformal Lattice Structures in Additive Manufacturing (AM)

Melpal, Gopalakrishna Ranjan
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1535382325233769

Abstract Details

2018, MS, University of Cincinnati, Engineering and Applied Science: Mechanical Engineering.
Additive Manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing (3DP) process is a layered approach for manufacturing parts. Using AM, it is possible to manufacture complex lattice structured parts used for light weighting applications. This thesis outlines a design methodology for generating lattice structures with three types of structures: conformal boundary cells, core or inner unit cells and bridge struts. While the conformal cells follow the boundary of the body, the core or inner unit cells can be optimized by topology optimization to find the optimal volume fraction for given loading and boundary conditions. The bridge struts are used to join the conformal cells with the core unit cells. The proposed design approach entails starting off with an STL file of a solid body, slicing along an axis and dividing the part into user defined number of sub divisions, finding offsets of each contour and generating conformal cells and lattice skin between the contours. The process starts with voxelizing of part STL file followed by unit core cells generation that is trimmed and joined with conformal cells by struts. The lattice structured CAD files are constructed based on this method and three test cases are demonstrated. FEA validation is performed on these CAD files and core cells of uniform and variable volume fractions are compared for stresses under similar boundary and loading conditions to demonstrate the importance of optimizing core cell volume fractions by topology optimization.
Sam Anand, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Michael Alexander-Ramos, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Manish Kumar, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
49 p.
Mechanical Engineering
additive manufacturing; lattice structures; 3D printing

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Melpal, G. R. (2018). Conformal Lattice Structures in Additive Manufacturing (AM) [Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1535382325233769

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Melpal, Gopalakrishna Ranjan. Conformal Lattice Structures in Additive Manufacturing (AM). 2018. University of Cincinnati, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1535382325233769.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Melpal, Gopalakrishna Ranjan. "Conformal Lattice Structures in Additive Manufacturing (AM)." Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1535382325233769

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1535382325233769
748
© 2018, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.