Hybrid Additive Manufacturing With Struts for Thermal Stress Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing additive manufacturing processes face challenges in creating hybrid structures with complex geometries and large components due to limitations in accuracy, cost, and thermal stress issues, particularly when combining different materials with varying thermal conductivity.
Innovation Solution
A hybrid manufacturing approach using multiple additive manufacturing techniques, such as powder bed fusion and direct-energy deposition, where a first component is formed on a base plate with strategically placed struts to achieve thermal equilibrium, followed by the assembly of a second component using a mandrel for rigidity and precision, thereby reducing thermal stresses and improving joint integrity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If additive manufacturing is used to create large structures with complex geometries, then design freedom and manufacturing flexibility are improved, but thermal stress formation and manufacturing precision deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The additive manufacturing process is segmented into distinct phases: initial component formation, thermal equilibrium phase with struts, and final component formation. This segmentation allows thermal stresses to be managed in controlled stages rather than continuously, improving overall manufacturing precision while maintaining design freedom
Solution Approach 2:
Struts are introduced as intermediary elements during the additive manufacturing process. These struts serve as temporary thermal management components that facilitate heat distribution and thermal equilibrium between the base plate and newly deposited material, thereby reducing thermal stress formation without constraining the final component geometry
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple additive manufacturing techniques are combined to create hybrid structures, then manufacturing flexibility and design freedom are improved, but process complexity and manufacturing precision deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The additive manufacturing system is designed to perform multiple functions sequentially: it can form initial components, manage thermal equilibrium through struts, and form final components with different materials. This multi-functionality approach consolidates several specialized processes into one universal system, reducing overall process complexity while maintaining hybrid manufacturing capabilities
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically changes operating parameters during the manufacturing process, including temperature control parameters during thermal equilibrium phase, material deposition parameters for different components, and structural parameters of struts. These parameter changes enable precise control over the complex hybrid manufacturing process while maintaining flexibility
3Manufacturing precision
If struts are used to achieve thermal equilibrium, then thermal stress formation is reduced, but manufacturing time and device complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
Struts are pre-positioned and configured before the main component formation begins. This preliminary action establishes the thermal equilibrium pathway in advance, allowing thermal stresses to be managed proactively rather than reactively, thereby reducing overall manufacturing time despite the additional components
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This method allows for the creation of hybrid structures with enhanced design freedom, improved manufacturing yield, and reduced lead times by leveraging the advantages of different additive manufacturing processes while minimizing thermal deformations and ensuring precise joint formation.
Implementation Method 1
forming a plurality of struts on a base plate, the forming of the plurality of struts causing the base plate to heat
Data Source
AI summary
The disclosure presents a combination of additive manufacturing processes that could be used to produce different portions or features of a hybrid structure, such that a first additive manufacturing process could be used to form a complex seed part or first section of the hybrid component, and a different additive manufacturing component could be used to form a second section of the hybrid component. When two components are manufactures, a mandrel could be assembled into the first component to provide rigidity and resistance to deformation of the first component, even during and after formation of the second component on the interface surface of the first component using a second additive manufacturing process. Finally, struts could be formed directly on a base plate and before formation of the component so that the base plate temperature could increase to be in equilibrium with the temperature of the newly deposited material.