The Collaborative Optimization Path of Lightweight Design and Additive

In the era of advanced manufacturing, lightweight design and additive manufacturing have become core elements for enhancing the performance of mechanical systems. Lightweight design optimizes material distribution and structural forms to effectively reduce product weight, thereby minimizing energy consumption and improving efficiency. Additive manufacturing, with its unique layer-by-layer fabrication process, enables the rapid production of complex structures and significantly expands design freedom. However, their independent applications face limitations: lightweight design may be constrained by traditional processing techniques, while additive manufacturing still needs improvements in material properties and production efficiency. Collaborative optimization integrates the two approaches, breaking through the bottlenecks of traditional design and manufacturing to create more efficient and economical innovative structures. This strongly promotes the leapfrog development of mechanical systems in aerospace, the automotive industry, medical devices, and other fields. This paper deeply focuses on the collaborative optimization path of the two, systematically exploring its revolutionary significance for the design and production of mechanical components.