Method for solving the design space restrictions by combining differential design and downstream joining connection

• Applicant: Professor Dr.-Ing. Eckhard A. Kirchner
• Subject Area: Engineering Design, Machine Elements, Product Development
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 531952402

The aim of this project is to develop a method for the separation of large-volume components for additive manufacturing based on the differential design and the subsequent joining. Bolted joints are suitable as a representative joining technology in additive manufacturing because they are a widely used and well understood joining method. The accessibility and design of the joining zone represents a challenging use case for the method to be elaborated. Powder bed-based laser beam melting of the lightweight alloy AlSi10Mg is used as an additive manufacturing process, for which the applicant has a great deal of process knowledge. Through the design method analysis of both the L-PBF process and the process steps in bolting, the transferability of the developed method to other joining technologies is achieved. A single demonstrator will be dispensed with and instead several user-specific case studies will be used for the development of a database. In addition to the integral construction method, the differential construction method is to be increasingly applied in order to fulfill even contradictory requirements for a component. The differential construction method allows the design-zone-specific adaptation of component shape, manufacturing, separation and joining processes to the requirements. In order to develop the design and evaluation method and the necessary models, the following research questions are answered: FF1: How can the location of parting and joining surfaces be evaluated in a model-based manner, taking into account requirements, component functions, and restrictions from manufacturing and joining processes? FF2: How can the influence of the joining technology on the functionally relevant component properties be recorded, specifically used and evaluated in the definition of the parting line? FF3: How can the potentials of additive manufacturing be used as a component connection in the design of the joining zone using the example of thread-forming screws? FF4: How can the findings on the influencing parameters, effective mechanisms as well as restrictions and properties of the joining processes be presented in a machine-readable form? FF5: Can a graph-based representation of the overall system linked by mechanisms of action be used in additive manufacturing in a computer-aided, context-sensitive manner? Models and methods are provided to enable additive manufacturing to be used for large components with holistic evaluation. The equal evaluation of cutting and joining enables resource-saving additive manufacturing and ensures the functions of the additively manufactured component. In order to enable a methodically supported evaluation for complex components, a prototype of a context-sensitive digital support for product development is to be tested by means of a database and an adapted graph.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants