ABSTRACT
Observed in nature, porous structures are used to create lightweight objects that have high structural integrity. Recently, porous freeform structures could be produced by additive manufacturing. However, the state-of-the-art computer-aided design tools do not yet enable engineers to incorporate porous structures in mechanical design. In this paper, a new approach is described, representing porous structures with circles or freeform curves. Using the Hough Transform method, a coarse geometric representation is computed. Using Genetic Algorithms on Bezier Curves, a fine geometric representation is found. The feasibility of these methods is demonstrated on synthetic images of composite materials and micro-CT images of bone. This representation can act as a base for additive manufacturing for complex scanned micro-structures.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.