Purpose

Laser sintering of polyamide lattice-based lightweight fairing components for subsequent racetrack testing requires a high quality and a reliable design. Hence, the purpose of this study was to develop a design methodology for such additively manufactured prototypes, considering efficient generation and structural simulation of boundary conformal non-periodic lattices, optimization of production parameters as well as experimental validation.

Design/methodology/approach

Multi-curved, sandwich structure-based demonstrators were designed, simulated and experimentally tested with boundary conformal lattice cells. The demonstrator’s non-periodic lattice cells were simplified by forward homogenization processes. To represent the stiffness of the top and bottom face sheet, constant isotropic and mapped transversely isotropic simulation approaches were compared. The dimensional accuracy of lattice cells and demonstrators were measured with a gauge caliper and a three-dimensional scanning system. The optimized process parameters for lattice structures were transferred onto a large volume laser sintering system. The stiffness of each finite element analysis was verified by an experimental test setup including a digital image correlation system.

Findings

The stiffness prediction of the mapped was superior to the constant approach and underestimated the test results with −6.5%. Using a full scale fairing the applicability of the development process was successfully demonstrated.

Originality/value

The design approach elaborated in this research covers aspects from efficient geometry generation over structural simulation to experimental testing of produced parts. This methodology is not only relevant in the context of motor sports but is transferrable for all additively manufactured large scale components featuring a complex lattice sub-structure and is, therefore, relevant across industries.

中文翻译：

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组件级激光烧结共形晶格结构的设计、仿真、测试和应用

目的

用于后续赛道测试的基于聚酰胺晶格的轻型整流罩组件的激光烧结需要高质量和可靠的设计。因此，本研究的目的是为这种增材制造的原型开发一种设计方法，考虑边界共形非周期晶格的有效生成和结构模拟、生产参数的优化以及实验验证。

设计/方法/方法

使用边界共形晶格单元设计、模拟和实验测试了多弯曲、夹心结构的演示器。演示器的非周期性晶格单元通过正向均化过程进行了简化。为了表示顶部和底部面板的刚度，比较了恒定各向同性和映射横向各向同性模拟方法。用卡尺和三维扫描系统测量晶格单元和演示器的尺寸精度。晶格结构的优化工艺参数被转移到大容量激光烧结系统上。每个有限元分析的刚度通过包括数字图像相关系统的实验测试装置进行验证。

发现

映射的刚度预测优于常数方法，并以 -6.5% 的幅度低估了测试结果。使用全尺寸整流罩成功证明了开发过程的适用性。

原创性/价值

本研究中阐述的设计方法涵盖了从结构模拟的有效几何生成到生产零件的实验测试等方面。这种方法不仅与赛车运动相关，而且适用于所有具有复杂晶格子结构的增材制造的大型组件，因此适用于各个行业。