Integrated digital thread for additive manufacturing design optimization of lightweight structures

A method of manufacturing a part using an additive manufacturing process, the method comprising:

• manufacturing regions of solid material;
• manufacturing regions of non-uniform lattice cells, each non-uniform lattice cell comprising bars;
• and
• leaving regions of voids with no material;
• wherein the regions are spatially distributed throughout the part as a function of load conditions such that the solid material is distributed in regions of first load paths and the non-uniform lattice cells are distributed in regions of second load paths lower in magnitude than the first load paths,
• wherein diameters of each bar of a non-uniform lattice cell are sized as a function of at least one of a resolution unit of the additive manufacturing process and part performance requirements, and
• wherein the diameters of each bar of the non-uniform lattice cells are classified into clusters, and wherein an average diameter size being assigned to each bar of the non-uniform lattice cells in a same cluster.

A part formed by an additive manufacturing process, the part consisting of:

• regions of voids;
• regions of solid material;
• regions of non-uniform lattice cells, each lattice cell comprising bars;
• and
• one or more geometrical features as a function of the additive manufacturing process,
• wherein the regions are spatially distributed throughout the part as a function of load conditions such that the solid material is distributed in regions of first load paths and the non-uniform lattice cells are distributed in regions of second load paths lower in magnitude than the first load paths,
• wherein diameters of each bar of a non-uniform lattice cell are sized as a function of at least one of a resolution unit of the additive manufacturing process and part performance requirements,
• wherein the diameters of each bar of the non-uniform lattice cells are classified into clusters, and wherein an average diameter size is assigned to each bar of the non-uniform lattice cells in a same cluster, and
• wherein a material of the part is selected from the group consisting of metals, ceramics, polymers, and composites.