Virtual Trainings
Virtual Trainings: How Biomimetic Design boosts 3D printing
© Fraunhofer IAPT, Lightworks
Design engineers worldwide push themselves hard to get the most out of 3D printing technology, also known as additive manufacturing, and to produce highly complex and efficient components demanded by various industries.
Insiders know it all comes down to efficiently optimising the designs of existing and new three-dimensional objects before printing. Generally, the new design should enable lightweight objects and save on materials while maintaining or even improving functionality and performance of the final products, which is not an easy task.
German experts of the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Additive Production Technologies (IAPT) in Hamburg have proven that biomimicking nature’s construction designs by what is called ‘biomimetic design’ can do the trick most efficiently. The expert scientists of their 'Additive Manufacturing Technology Transfer (AMTT)' research project have developed a software that exposes 3D designs to the harsh selective forces of nature’s evolution, but in a matter of hours instead of thousands of years.
The results are promising and might support design engineers around the world to optimise their designs efficiently.
Want to learn more? Then sign up to the following free online courses.
Free online courses: Learn how additive manufacturing and biomimetic design can be used to create new products!
Why you should participate:
- Learn how to optimise products in terms of function, cost and weight using additive manufacturing
- Learn about research results that can be used in practice
- Free of charge learning content from experienced applied research experts
Session 1 | 15 January 2021:
'Biomimetic Design and Additive Manufacturing – A Perfect Symbiosis'
Biomimetics and additive manufacturing have previously produced new design approaches for parts and products. The combination of both has resulted in numerous innovative part designs. This session takes a closer look at the biomimetic design approach and evaluates biomimetic designs regarding their suitability for industrial applications. Furthermore, case studies of biomimetic designs produced with additive manufacturing are presented.
Session 2 | 22 January 2021:
'Design Guidelines for Additive Manufacturing'
Even though additive manufacturing offers great freedom in shape and structural design, some restrictions need to be considered during the design phase of components. This session introduces some basic design rules for (laser metal) additive manufacturing and illustrates them on different examples. It shows how the user can achieve mature component designs better, faster, and more reliably.
Session 3 | 29 January 2021:
'Biomimetic Design of Additively Manufactured Heat Exchangers'
Additive manufacturing offers the possibility of improving or optimising components with regard to heat transfer, flow, acoustics, vibrations, and other. In the field of heat transfer, the focus lies on the design of highly efficient heat exchangers. Here, large amounts of thermal energy must be dissipated in a very small space to increase the performance and service life of electronic components. In this session, the presenters will review the design and optimisation process of two different biologically inspired and additively manufactured heat exchangers.