Lightweight design of an AlSi10Mg aviation control stick additively manufactured by laser powder bed fusion
ISSN: 1355-2546
Article publication date: 1 August 2022
Issue publication date: 14 October 2022
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore a structural optimization method to achieve the lightweight design of an aviation control stick part manufactured by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) additive manufacturing (AM). The utilization of LPBF for the fabrication of the part provides great freedom to its structure optimization, further reduces its weight and improves its portability.
Design/methodology/approach
The stress distribution of the model was analyzed by finite element analysis. The material distribution path of the model was optimized through topology optimization. The structure and size of the parts were designed by applying honeycomb structures for weight reduction. The lightweight designed control stick part model was printed by LPBF using AlSi10Mg.
Findings
The weight of the control stick model was reduced by 32.64% through the optimization method using honeycomb structures with various geometries. The similar stress concentrations of the control stick model indicate that weight reduction has negligible effect on its mechanical strength. The maximum stress of the lightweight designed model under loading is 230.85 MPa, which is 61.81% larger than that of the original model. The lightweight control stick part manufactured by LPBF has good printability and service performance.
Originality/value
A structural optimization method integrating topology, shape and size optimization was proposed for a lightweight AlSi10Mg control stick printed by LPBF. The effectiveness of the optimization method, the printability of the lightweight model and the service performance of LPBF-printed AlSi10Mg control stick was verified, which provided practical references for the lightweight design of AM.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China [grant numbers 2021YFE0203500] and the Guangdong Province Basic and Applied Basic Research Fund Project [grant numbers 2019B1515120094 and 2021A1515110527]. The authors also appreciated Guizhou Huayang Electronics Co., Ltd. for the deformation testing.
Citation
Wang, D., Wei, X., Liu, J., Xiao, Y., Yang, Y., Liu, L., Tan, C., Yang, X. and Han, C. (2022), "Lightweight design of an AlSi10Mg aviation control stick additively manufactured by laser powder bed fusion", Rapid Prototyping Journal, Vol. 28 No. 10, pp. 1869-1881. https://doi.org/10.1108/RPJ-02-2022-0064
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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