Novel Lightweight Design of Additively Manufactured Structural Components through Biomimetics

PBF-LB/M offers efficient production of complex and functional metal components. Research shows that the mechanical performance of components can be enhanced by incorporating biomimetic shapes, such as banana pseudo stem-inspired biomimetic beams. This work addresses three mechanical topology optimization problems, using AlSi10Mg. Leveraging these models, novel component designs featuring biomimetic beams and novel node designs were developed based on the input topology optimization. The new biomimetic component designs were compared to their topology optimization counterparts that were used as references. Numerical analyses of mass and structural integrity were performed to evaluate improvements. Lightweight biomimetic component designs for additively manufactured components were developed using the developed methods. Weight savings of 12.5-30.3 % were achieved compared to the input topology optimization results. However, further research on the design methodologies is needed to ensure that the mechanical stress criterion is also met within the nodes of the generated biomimetic designs.