Metal Additive Manufacturing Conference 2019

An aerospace gimbal made of Ti64 is topologically optimized to achieve the same performance with a substantial weight reduction. The Ti64 powder is characterized and numerically studied to ensure spreadability and recyclability. Process parameters are optimized both experimentally and numerically to achieve material density of 99.5%. The distortion of the original geometry was studied numerically and compared with a trial print to validate the material properties used as well as the solution procedure. Finally, the topologically optimized geometry is studied with the chosen process parameters to assess manufacturability. The results are compared with 3D scans of the final part confirming the accuracy of the ICME platform and the combined numerical and experimental work flow.