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Technique makes complex 3D printed parts more reliable | New research enables computer designs to incorporate the limitations of 3D printers, to better control materials’ performance in aerospace, medical, and other applications.
MIT engineers are incorporating the limitations of 3D printers into computer designs, to better control materials’ performance. The approach helps ensure printed structures perform the way they’re intended to in aerospace, medical, and other applications.
Over the last decade, new design and fabrication technologies have transformed the way things are made, especially in industries like aerospace, automotive, and biomedical engineering, where materials must reach precise weight-to-strength ratios and other performance thresholds. Topology optimization has been used to generate new and often surprising material structures that can outperform conventional designs, in some cases approaching the theoretical limits of certain performance thresholds. The approach allows users to add variables to the design algorithms that account for the center of the bead being extruded from a print head and the exact location of the weaker bonding region between layers.
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