Method and apparatus for modeling and designing multi-dimensional cellular structures for additive manufacturing

An additive manufacturing device, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations to generate structure data for use to generate a spatially variable and graded cellular structure comprising any one or more of at least one of a beam, a truss, a shell, or a solid, the operations comprising:
• based on a base microstructure cell that adheres to a defined geometric model and a level-set function applicable to the base microstructure cell, creating base cells, wherein the level-set function facilitates a mapping of the base microstructure cell to a discrete solid object mesh;
• discretizing a solid object domain into a corresponding conforming mesh comprising a mesh structure;
• applying a transformation to the base cells comprising applying an isoparametric transformation of the base cells into the corresponding conforming mesh, resulting in a set of transformed base cells;
• applying a global cutting function to the transformed base cells comprising generating continuous geometric connections between repeated instances of the set of transformed base cells within the corresponding conforming mesh;
• and
• determining a level-set function representation of the transformed base cells comprising structure data representative of a cellular structure of at least some the set of transformed base cells and the mesh structure of the corresponding conforming mesh;
• and
• facilitating a use of, or an access to, the structure data by an additive manufacturing device to generate a spatially variable and graded cellular structure.

A machine-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:

• creating base cells comprising applying a level-set function to a base microstructure cell that adheres to a defined geometric model, wherein the level-set function facilitates a mapping of the base microstructure cell to a discrete solid object mesh;
• discretizing a solid object domain into a corresponding conforming mesh comprising a mesh structure;
• applying an isoparametric transformation of the base cells into the corresponding conforming mesh, resulting in transformed base cells;
• applying a global cutting function to the transformed base cells, wherein continuous geometric connections are generated between repeated instances of the transformed base cells within the corresponding conforming mesh;
• determining a level-set function representation of the transformed base cells comprising structure data representative of a cellular structure of the transformed base cells and the mesh structure of the corresponding conforming mesh;
• and
• facilitating access to the structure data by an additive manufacturing device to generate a spatially variable and graded cellular structure.