Multi-portion Additive Manufacturing via Segmented Process Selection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current additive manufacturing methods fail to optimize simultaneously for overall part size, material quality, surface finish, dimensional accuracy, volumetric build rate, and cost, often requiring tradeoffs between these factors.
Innovation Solution
The approach involves manufacturing a multi-portion article using two different additive manufacturing processes: one portion is produced with a higher resolution and slower build rate, while the other is faster but less accurate, and they are attached via a joint or interface, allowing for a hybrid process that balances performance and efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a single additive manufacturing process is used for the entire article, then the manufacturing process is simple, but it cannot simultaneously optimize resolution, build rate, and cost for different portions of the article
Solution Approach 1:
The article is divided into multiple portions, each manufactured using a different additive manufacturing process optimized for its specific requirements. This segmentation allows high-resolution processes to be applied only where needed while faster processes handle other portions, resolving the contradiction between resolution and build rate.
Solution Approach 2:
Different portions of the article are manufactured with different quality levels appropriate to their functional requirements. Critical portions requiring high precision use high-resolution processes, while non-critical portions use faster, lower-resolution processes, optimizing the overall balance between precision and productivity.
2Manufacturing precision
If a high resolution additive manufacturing process is used, then manufacturing precision is improved, but build time increases and cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The article is segmented into portions requiring high dimensional accuracy and those that do not. Only the portions requiring high accuracy are manufactured using slow, high-precision processes, while other portions use faster processes, thereby reducing overall build time while maintaining necessary precision.
Solution Approach 2:
High dimensional accuracy is applied locally only to portions of the article where it is functionally required, rather than uniformly across the entire article. This reduces the total time spent on high-precision manufacturing while ensuring accuracy where needed.
3Productivity
If a fast additive manufacturing process is used, then volumetric build rate is improved, but manufacturing precision deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The article is divided into portions where surface finish quality is critical and those where it is not. Fast additive manufacturing processes are used for portions where surface finish requirements are minimal, while slower processes with better surface finish are used for critical portions, optimizing the balance between productivity and quality.
Solution Approach 2:
Superior surface finish is applied locally only to portions of the article where it is functionally required. Other portions are manufactured with acceptable but lower surface finish using faster processes, thereby improving overall volumetric build rate while maintaining quality where needed.
4Manufacturing precision
If multiple different additive manufacturing processes are used for different portions, then optimization of resolution and build rate is achieved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The article is segmented into portions that can be manufactured using a limited set of standard additive manufacturing processes. By dividing the article into portions suitable for common processes like SLA, SLS, FDM, or DMLS, the complexity of coordinating multiple specialized processes is reduced while still achieving optimization of resolution and build rate.
Data Source
AI summary
An additive manufactured multi-portion article includes a first portion of an article manufactured by a first additive manufacturing process; and a second portion of the article manufactured by a second additive manufacturing process different than the first additive manufacturing process, the second portion attached to the first portion.