| Research project: | ISMAEK - Integrated structural optimization and model-informed path planning of additively manufactured, continuous fiber-reinforced plastics, taking into account manufacturing restrictions and design-dependent strength |
| Research area: | Additive Manufacturing, Structural Optimization, Fiber-Reinforced Plastics, Numerical Modeling |
| Sponsored by: | German Research Foundation (DFG) |
| In collaboration with: | Structural mechanics in lightweight design (TUHH) |
| Start of the project: | February 2025 |
| End of the project: | January 2027 |
| Contact person at the institute: | Dr.-Ing. Jorrid Lund |
Description:
With the increasing demand for lightweight constructions, composite materials with their high achievable stiffness and strength at low weight are gaining importance. Additive manufacturing (AM) enables the combination of material and manufacturing advantages. Fused Filament Fabrication combines the classic benefits of AM with the ability to position the anisotropic strands of fiber-reinforced plastics in the direction of the expected stress flow to increase the effectiveness of material usage.
For structures with complex fiber architecture, the transfer of a fiber composite design into the path planning of an additive manufacturing process is still largely a manual process. For example, the result of optimizing a fiber composite structure is available in the form of a vector field of local material orientations. Through manual path planning, an attempt is then made to implement a component that approximates this design.
To date, there is no approach to optimize additively manufactured composite components made from continuous fibers in such a way that a manufacturable design is created while simultaneously exploiting its full lightweight potential. The weak point lies at the transition between structural mechanical modeling, path planning, and the manufacturing process, which is why a continuous design chain can only be developed in close cooperation between structural optimization and manufacturing technology.
The overarching goal of the project is to develop a continuous process for model-informed path planning and structural optimization of additively manufactured fiber composite components. The path planning should anticipate and compensate for process-induced error sources through simulation, control, and modeling of non-planar manufacturing and the fiber-matrix combination. The design-dependent local strength through a varying fiber volume content as well as manufacturing constraints should be considered in the optimization of the fundamental structure and the planned paths.
For this purpose, a method for error-compensating path planning with model-based process parameters will be developed, and a Fused Filament Fabrication process for non-planar additive manufacturing of fiber-reinforced plastics will be adapted accordingly. The paths determined in this way will serve as input for a method to be developed for the structural optimization of fiber paths, maintaining manufacturability and taking into account design-dependent strengths and stiffnesses. This overall process will be validated through manufacturing trials and structural mechanical tests.