Realization and assessment of metal additive manufacturing and topology optimization for high-precision motion systems

• Published in: Additive manufacturing Vol. 58; p. 103012
• Main Authors: Delissen, Arnoud, Boots, Elwin, Laro, Dick, Kleijnen, Harry, van Keulen, Fred, Langelaar, Matthijs
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.10.2022
• Subjects: Eigenfrequency; Experimental validation; High dynamic performance; Industrial application; Laser powder-bed fusion; Topology optimization; Topology optimization; High dynamic performance; Experimental validation; Laser powder-bed fusion; Eigenfrequency; Industrial application
• ISSN: 2214-8604; 2214-7810
• DOI: 10.1016/j.addma.2022.103012

The design of high-precision motion stages, which must exhibit high dynamic performance, is a challenging task. Manual design is difficult, time-consuming, and leads to sub-optimal designs that fail to fully exploit the extended geometric freedom that additive manufacturing offers. By using topology optimization and incorporating all manufacturing steps (printing, milling, and assembly) into the optimization formulation, high-quality optimized and manufacturable designs can be obtained in an automated manner. With a special focus on overhang control, minimum feature size, and computational effort, the proposed methodology is demonstrated using a case study of an industrial motion stage, optimized for maximum eigenfrequencies. For this case study, an optimized design can be obtained in a single day, showing a substantial performance increase of around 15% as compared to a conventional design. The generated design is manufactured using laser powder-bed fusion in aluminum and experimentally validated within 1% of the simulated performance. This shows that the combination of additive manufacturing and topology optimization can enable significant gains in the high-tech industry. •A systematic optimization setup including all steps of the manufacturing process.•Application of topology optimization and additive manufacturing to a high-tech system.•Realization of an optimized design and its assessment by experimental validation.•An improved overhang filter with more freedom in overhang angle and print direction.•Cost reduction in computing eigenfrequencies with an adapted robust formulation.