Abstract:
Continuous fiber reinforced composite (CFRC) has become a key material for high-end equipment due to its high strength, lightweight, and designability. The deep integration of topology optimization and of additive manufacturing technology, fully leveraging the designability of fiber-reinforced composite materials and the high manufacturing flexibility of 3D printing, is a key approach for designing and manufacturing high-performance CFRC structures. In this article, the structural configuration and material orientation of fiber-reinforced composite materials is optimized concurrently based on the floating projection topology optimization (FPTO) method. And then smooth and non-crossing continuous fiber printing trajectories are successfully fitted and generated by constructing an error function for force flow field and continuous fiber field using the theory of planar fluids. Greedy algorithm is adopted to plan the continuous fiber 3D printing path, while meeting the printing process requirements and reducing the printing stroke. Finally, based on fused filament fabrication (FFF) and continuous fiber co-extrusion (CFC) 3D printing technology, the obtained structures through topology optimization are manufactured where the curved and continuous reinforced fibers are accurately printed along the load transfer path. The feasibility and effectiveness of the method proposed are validated through printing and testing results. The approach proposed offers an effective solution for innovative design and for rapid manufacturing of high-performance fiber-reinforced composite structures.