Development of a Field-driven Computer Aided Design System for Design for Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

Design for additive manufacturing (DfAM) approach is a design method to utilize benefits from the implementation of additive manufacturing. In this approach, all design information in geometries, materials, and manufacturing processes domains are efficiently integrated. However, existing computer-aided design (CAD) systems cannot efficiently support DfAM activities because all design information including materials and manufacturing process conditions should be represented by only geometric information. The goal of this study is to develop a field-driven CAD system to support DfAM activities. To achieve the goal, shape modeling techniques based on implicit representations were implemented, and methods to create and utilize shape-material-process function fields for DfAM approaches were proposed. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed CAD system, DfAM activities including local shape modification, cellular structure generation, and AM process optimization were performed, and the results showed that the CAD system efficiently supported the DfAM approaches.