Manufacturing Method

A Manufacturing Method like Additive Manufacturing can be added to create designs tailored for the chosen Manufacturing Method by considering its typical characteristics.

Additive Manufacturing

Build Plane

A Build Plane can be added to define the XY-build plane of a 3D Printer. The Z-direction is the build direction. If no build plane is added, the global XY-plane will be used.

Scale Target Stress in build direction

A lower maximum allowable stress in build direction is typical for some additive manufacturing methods. The Target Stress in build direction compared to the Target Stress in in-plane directions can be scaled with a value.

Example:

Given are the maximum allowable stress of the material with 100 MPa and the Safety Factor with a value of 5. With a scaled target stress in build direction of 80% we receive the following values considered in the optimization:

Support Reduction

The Support Reduction function reduces the needed support structure for the optimized part in regard to the Build Plane. The target is to reduce the amount of needed support for overhang angles of 45° while maintaining nearly the same mechanical performance as designs without manufacturing constraints.

Strategy

Three different strategies are available:

• Passive

• Reactive

• Active

The influence of the Support Reduction on the design increases from Passive to Reactive to Active.

This comparison shows the influence of the three different Support Reduction strategies regarding the resulting mass, the maximum deflection and the needed support volume compared to a base design without any support strategy.

Intensity

For the strategies Reactive and Active a second value can be defined, the Intensity. The Intensity can be set between 1 and 10, where 1 is very low and 10 is very high. Take in mind that a very high Intensity could lead to a slower performance and unusual results.

Hints

• If a Build Plane is added, this Build Plane will act as the Working Coordinate System for the optimization. Symmetry can only be used with reference to the Build Plane and therefore the defined Working Coordinate System.

• It is recommended to start with the first Support Reduction strategy (Passive) and use the other two together with the Intensity if the results are not satisfying.

• Use the Shape Quality Fine Tune to get better results and get rid of artifacts that can occur during the Support Reduction.