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US 11,327,465 B2Granted
Method and system to fabricate a three-dimensional meta-structure workpiece
AssigneeAbemis LLC
InventorsTodd Curtis Doehring, William Joseph Nelson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The exemplified methods and systems facilitate manufacturing of a new class of mechanical, loading-bearing components having optimized stress/strain three-dimensional meta-structure structures (also referred to herein as “Meshagons”) as finite-element-based 3D volumetric mesh structures. The resulting three-dimensional meta-structure structures provide high strength, ultra-light connectivity, with programmable interlinkage properties (e.g., density/porosity of linkages).
Claims20
A method to fabricate a three-dimensional meta-structure workpiece, the method comprising:
- iteratively building a section of the three-dimensional meta-structure workpiece in an additive manufacturing process from a model of the three-dimensional meta-structure workpiece,
- wherein the section includes a mesh structure comprising a plurality of interlinking linkages and joints that collectively form a three-dimensional manifold structure of tetrahedral, hexahedral, and/or fractal elements, wherein the plurality of interlinking linkages and joints each has a cross-sectional area that varies according to a specified profile,
- wherein the model is generated by i) converting a non-lattice finite element mesh model comprising a plurality of interlinking edges and nodes not having truncated periodic structure to a finite element mesh structure corresponding to the three-dimensional meta-structure workpiece and comprising the plurality of interlinking linkages and joints and ii) varying cross-sectional areas of each of the linkages and joints of the finite element mesh structure according to the specified profile.
An additive manufacturing system comprising:
- a component configured to iteratively build a section of a three-dimensional meta-structure workpiece from a model of the three-dimensional meta-structure workpiece, wherein the component is configured to perform an operation selected from the group consisting of powder bed fusion, Vat polymerization, material jetting, binder jetting, material extrusion, and multi-jet fusion (MJF),
- wherein the section includes a mesh structure comprising a plurality of interlinking linkages and joints that collectively form a three-dimensional manifold structure of tetrahedral, hexahedral, and/or fractal elements, and wherein the plurality of interlinking linkages and joints each has a cross-sectional area that varies according to a specified profile,
- wherein the model is generated by i) converting a non-lattice finite element mesh model comprising a plurality of interlinking edges and nodes not having truncated periodic structure to a finite element mesh structure corresponding to the three-dimensional meta-structure workpiece and comprising the plurality of interlinking linkages and joints and ii) varying cross-sectional areas of each of the linkages and joints of the finite element mesh structure according to the specified profile.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.