Optimized Unidirectional and Bidirectional Stiffened Objects for Minimum Material Consumption of 3D Printing

Anzong Zheng, Zaiping Zhu, Shaojun Bian, Jian Chang, Habibollah Haron, Andres Iglesias, Lihua You and Jianjun Zhang
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Anzong Zheng: The National Center for Computer Animation, Faculty of Media & Communication, Bournemouth University, Poole BH12 5BB, UK
Zaiping Zhu: The National Center for Computer Animation, Faculty of Media & Communication, Bournemouth University, Poole BH12 5BB, UK
Shaojun Bian: The National Center for Computer Animation, Faculty of Media & Communication, Bournemouth University, Poole BH12 5BB, UK
Jian Chang: The National Center for Computer Animation, Faculty of Media & Communication, Bournemouth University, Poole BH12 5BB, UK
Habibollah Haron: Department of Computer Science, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai 81310, Malaysia
Andres Iglesias: Department of Applied Mathematics and Computational Sciences, University of Cantabria, 39005 Santander, Spain
Lihua You: The National Center for Computer Animation, Faculty of Media & Communication, Bournemouth University, Poole BH12 5BB, UK
Jianjun Zhang: The National Center for Computer Animation, Faculty of Media & Communication, Bournemouth University, Poole BH12 5BB, UK

Mathematics, 2021, vol. 9, issue 21, 1-15

Abstract: 3D printing, regarded as the most popular additive manufacturing technology, is finding many applications in various industrial sectors. Along with the increasing number of its industrial applications, reducing its material consumption and increasing the strength of 3D printed objects have become an important topic. In this paper, we introduce unidirectionally and bidirectionally stiffened structures into 3D printing to increase the strength and stiffness of 3D printed objects and reduce their material consumption. To maximize the advantages of such stiffened structures, we investigated finite element analysis, especially for general cases of stiffeners in arbitrary positions and directions, and performed optimization design to minimize the total volume of stiffened structures. Many examples are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed finite element analysis and optimization design as well as significant reductions in the material costs and stresses in 3D printed objects stiffened with unidirectional and bidirectional stiffeners.

Keywords: 3D printing; unidirectional and bidirectional stiffened objects; minimum material consumption; finite element analysis; optimization design (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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