An integrated design methodology for components produced by laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) process

ABSTRACT

Laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) is an additive manufacturing (AM) process that allows to build full dense metal complex part. However, despite the obvious benefits of L-PBF process, it is affected by specific technological drawbacks and it suffers from issues regarding design support tools. In order to fully exploit the advantages of L-PBF, it is necessary to know the technological constraints, such as material availability and the need to minimise the support structures. In this paper, an integrated design procedure that involves topology optimisation, design for laser powder bed fusion rules and finishing requirements is presented in order to define practical guidelines for successful AM of metal parts. The procedure is tested using a case study to prove the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

KEYWORDS:

• Additive manufacturing
• design guidelines
• topology optimisation
• selective laser melting
• design methodology

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the students of the ‘Design for Additive Manufacturing’ course of the Specializing Master in Additive Manufacturing at the Politecnico di Torino, who have contributed to this paper by providing their support in the case study design.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Alessandro Salmi http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7775-3014

Flaviana Calignano http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7672-7650

Manuela Galati http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6508-2594

Eleonora Atzeni http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1003-5480

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alessandro Salmi

Alessandro Salmi was born in Torino, in 1978. He received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from the Politecnico di Torino, Italy, in 2004, and the Ph.D. degree in production engineering from Politecnico di Torino in 2008. From 2004 to 2011, he was a Research Assistant; from 2011 to 2018, he was Assistant Professor; and since 2018, he has been Associate Professor of Manufacturing technology and systems with the with the Department of Management and Production Engineering at Politecnico di Torino. Prof. Salmi is the author and/or co-author of one book and more than 40 papers in international journals and conferences. His research interests include AM, High Speed Machining (HSM) of Aluminium alloys, and FEM process simulation, mainly about injection moulding, casting, metal-cutting and AM processes. Prof. Salmi was one of the authors who won the Best Young Scientist Award at the 4th International Conference on Additive Technologies (iCAT) in 2012.

Flaviana Calignano

Flaviana Calignano was born in Nardò, Italy, in 1976. She received the M.Sc. in 2005 in management and industrial engineering and the Ph.D. in 2008 in industrial production systems engineering, both at the Politecnico di Torino, Italy. From 2005 to 2011, she worked on the virtual reality in the study of facial morphology, wed-based interactive 3D models for the design and training, virtual machines for simulation of machining, reverse engineering, and workability of aluminium alloys. She joined the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) in 2012 and currently she is Research Assistant with the Department of Management and Production Engineering at Politecnico di Torino. Her research activity in the Additive Manufacturing/3D Printing research line of the Center for Sustainable Future Technologies CSFT@POLITO is focused on designing complex parts to be fabricated through AM, on the study and the definition of design rules for AM, and on the final surface optimisation of the parts after 3D printing. Dr. Calignano holds one patent and is the author and/or co-author of 3 book chapters, one monograph, one review, 40 papers in international journals, and 34 communications to national and international scientific conferences.

Manuela Galati

Manuela Galati was born in Sant’Agata di Militello, Italy, in 1987. She received the B.Sc. in mechanical engineering from the Università di Catania, Italy, in 2010. She received the M.Sc. degree (with honours) in mechanical engineering from Politecnico di Torino, Italy in 2013 in which she defended her thesis on the FE simulation of Electron Beam Melting (EBM) process. She received the Ph.D. degree in Management, Production and Design from Politecnico di Torino in 2017. Since 2013, she is holding lecturing positions at Politecnico di Torino in technological topics. Her research interests include Additive Manufacturing and FEM process simulation.

Eleonora Atzeni

Eleonora Atzeni was born in Torino, in 1974. She received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from the Politecnico di Torino, Italy, in 2001, and the Ph.D. degree in industrial production system engineering from Politecnico di Torino in 2005. From 2001 to 2005, she was a Research Assistant; from 2005 to 2016, she was Assistant Professor; and since 2016, she has been Associate Professor of Manufacturing technology and systems with the with the Department of Management and Production Engineering at Politecnico di Torino. Prof. Atzeni is the author of more than 60 articles and conference proceedings. Her research interests include AM, High Speed Machining (HSM), self-piercing riveting, and FEM process simulation. Prof. Atzeni’s awards include the Best Young Scientist Award at the 4th International Conference on Additive Technologies (iCAT) in 2012 and the Best Paper Award at the International Conference on Innovative Design and Manufacturing (ICIDM) in 2014.