Flow-based fabrication: An integrated computational workflow for design and digital additive manufacturing of multifunctional heterogeneously structured objects

Abstract

Structural hierarchy and material organization in design are traditionally achieved by combining discrete homogeneous parts into functional assemblies where the shape or surface is the determining factor in achieving function. In contrast, biological structures express higher levels of functionality on a finer scale through volumetric cellular constructs that are heterogeneous and complex. Despite recent advancements in additive manufacturing of functionally graded materials, the limitations associated with computational design and digital fabrication of heterogeneous materials and structures frame and limit further progress. Conventional computer-aided design tools typically contain geometric and topologic data of virtual constructs, but lack robust means to integrate material composition properties within virtual models. We present a seamless computational workflow for the design and direct digital fabrication of multi-material and multi-scale structured objects. The workflow encodes for and integrates domainspecific meta-data relating to local, regional and global feature resolution of heterogeneous material organizations. We focus on water-based materials and demonstrate our approach by additively manufacturing diverse constructs associating shape-informing variable flow rates and material properties to mesh-free geometric primitives. The proposed workflow enables virtual-to-physical control of constructs where structural, mechanical and optical gradients are achieved through a seamless design-to-fabrication tool with localized control. An enabling technology combining a robotic arm and a multi-syringe multi nozzle deposition system is presented. Proposed methodology is implemented and full-scale demonstrations are included.

Towards Fabrication Information Modeling (FIM): Four Case Models to Derive Designs informed by Multi-Scale Trans-Disciplinary Data

“…It then transforms the primitives into extrusion geometries by pressure fine-tuning. Finally, it defines geometric and material property maps for the overall shape of the printed structures [15] (Figure 4). …”

Additive manufacturing of cellulose-based materials with continuous, multidirectional stiffness gradients

“…1C). To highlight the relevance of combining materials engineering with custom manufacturing strategies, this research uses a biopolymer-based fabrication material that is environmentally friendly and abundant, with diverse applications from tissue engineering (16) to the construction industry (27). The synthesis of these physical and digital tools is the ability to create multidirectional, continuous stiffness gradients in a variety of ways, expanding design possibilities for FGMs.…”

Energy Consumption Modeling of Stereolithography‐Based Additive Manufacturing Toward Environmental Sustainability

“…; Duro‐Royo et al. ) have been widely investigated to improve the production procedure. Moreover, the product quality (Zha and Anand ), support structure (Hu et al.…”

“…Over the past few decades, numerous research efforts on AM have been dedicated to enhance the performance of different core techniques in AM processes, for example, laser technique (King et al 2014) and curing process (Mitteramskogler et al 2014;Lopes et al 2014). The solidification methods (Yang et al 2015b), geometry design approaches (Yang et al 2015a), and computational algorithms (Martukanitz et al 2014;Duro-Royo et al 2015) have been widely investigated to improve the production procedure. Moreover, the product quality (Zha and Anand 2015), support structure (Hu et al 2015), material properties (Park et al 2014), and structure (Hong et al 2015) have been studied to reveal the characteristics of parts built by AM processes.…”