Integrated structural optimization and model-informed path planning of additively manufactured, continuous fiber-reinforced plastics, taking into account manufacturing restrictions and design-dependent strength

• Applicants: Professor Dr.-Ing. Benedikt Kriegesmann; Professor Dr.-Ing. Thorsten Schüppstuhl
• Subject Area: Lightweight Construction, Textile Technology ; Primary Shaping and Reshaping Technology, Additive Manufacturing
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 552286673

For structures with complex fiber architecture, the transfer of a fiber composite design into the path planning of an additive manufacturing process in particular has been a mostly manual process to date. For example, the result of optimizing a fiber composite structure is available in the form of a vector field of local material orientations. Manual path planning is then used to implement a component that comes close to this design. Today, there is no approach for optimizing additively manufactured composite components made of continuous fibers in such a way that a manufacturable design is created and at the same time its full lightweight potential is exploited. The weak point here is the transition between the structural-mechanical model, path planning and the manufacturing process, which is why a continuous design chain can only be developed in close cooperation between structural optimization and manufacturing technology. The overarching aim of this application is therefore to develop a continuous process for model-informed path planning and structural optimization of additively manufactured fibre composite components. The path planning should anticipate and compensate for process-induced sources of error through simulation, control and modeling of the non-planar production and the fiber-matrix combination. In addition, the design-dependent, local strength and manufacturing restrictions are to be taken into account in the optimization. To this end, a method for error-compensating path planning with model-based process parameters is being developed and a fused filament fabrication process for the non-planar additive manufacturing of fiber-reinforced plastic composites is adapted to it. The paths determined in this way are the input for a method to be developed for the structural optimization of fiber paths while maintaining manufacturability and taking into account design-dependent strengths and stiffnesses. This overall process is to be validated by production trials and structural-mechanical tests.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants