Yongsheng Zhou

The powder-laying arm of a metal 3D printer is heavy, which can easily cause long-term damage to the powder-laying servomotor or belt, so it is necessary to design a lightweight powder-laying arm. To this end, we first use 3D modeling Rhino software to rebuild the powder-laying arm, and then, we carry out topology optimization design on the rebuilt powder-laying arm in Altair Inspire software. Finally, we use the Aurora Elva 3D printer to complete manufacturing and assembly to verify compatibility. The results show that the maximum displacement of the original powder-spreading arm is concentrated in the lower right corner at 4.319 × 10⁻⁵ mm; the maximum stress is concentrated in the middle transition part, decreasing toward the ends; the maximum stress is 3.843 × 10⁻² MPa; the stress concentration and deformation of the powder-spreading arm when spreading powder is small, which provides a large optimization space. The topology-optimized powder-spreading arm, with a 25% quality objective, maintains the integrity of the connection with the fixing hole while having a large mass reduction. The surface of the parts of the completed 3D-printed powder arm is bright, with low roughness, and there is no obvious warping and deformation or other defects; the completed 3D-printed powder-spreading arm and the assembly of the wall are closely coordinated with each other, and the location of the screw holes is appropriate, having no obvious assembly conflicts between the parts, which lays the foundation for the mass production of the powder-spreading arm of high-performance metal 3D printers.

In conjunction with the swift enhancement of China’s economic prowess, the demand for jewelry among the populace is gradually evolving towards personalized, customized, and intricate designs. Traditional manufacturing approaches are increasingly inadequate to meet these evolving demands. However, the advent of 3D printing technology presents a viable solution for the direct fabrication of such sophisticated jewelry. To this end, the conceptualization of personalized jewelry inspiration is initiated, followed by the implementation of parametric design using SolidWorks 2018 software. Subsequently, 3D printing technology is employed to materialize the jewelry directly. Results indicate that the “Guardian” jewelry model, crafted through the parametric modeling method, exhibits a commendable design, and adheres to processing requirements following a comprehensive risk analysis. The strategic adjustment of the jewelry’s position effectively reduces the required support, circumventing the necessity of adding support to critical surfaces. The surface of the Selective Laser Melting (SLM)-manufactured “Guardian” jewelry boasts a lustrous finish, showcasing optimal overlap between pillars and excellent connectivity among pores. Minimal powder adherence on the surface is observed, enabling direct utilization post-sandblasting, polishing, and plating. This establishes a solid foundation for the direct application of SLM-manufactured personalized jewelry.

Nowadays, the redesign of new shock-absorbing load-bearing parts has gradually gained more and more focus due to the pressure of energy, environmental protection, and people’s pursuit of high-performance (light weight, excellent shock absorption, etc.) travel tools, and the development of 3D printing technology provides the possibility to design such high-performance parts. Therefore, firstly, the strength analysis of the parts is carried out by adopting Altar Inspire software, then topology optimization design is conducted in Inspire software and, finally, direct manufacturing is carried out using Aurora 3D printers. The results show that the maximum Mises equivalent stress of the shock-absorbing load-bearing components after lightweight design is not more than the material’s yield stress of 45 MPa and the safety factor (1.5) is greater than the minimum allowable safety factor (1.2); under such kind of premise, the quality is lightened by 63.82%. Moreover, since the structure of the parts becomes a bracket structure after the lightweight design, the shock absorption performance will be greatly improved. The 3D-printed parts have a series of advantages, namely bright surface, low roughness, no obvious warpage and other defects, and good molding effect, which lays solid the foundation for the mass production of high-performance shock-absorbing load-bearing parts.

It is necessary to study the design method and molding techniques of selective laser melting (SLM) tibial implants to improve the success rate of knee implant surgery and the quality of life of patients. In this study, the three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of tibial implants was completed using the reverse combined with forward methods, optimization design was carried out on the constructed tibial implant model by adopting the parametric finite element method (FEM), and the SLM device was employed for the direct manufacture of tibial implants and to study its molding techniques. The results indicated that the tibial implant model completed using reverse and forward methods combined with FEM displayed favorable modeling effects, with more homogeneous stress distribution. After optimizing the molding techniques of SLM molding tibial implants, excellent molding effects could be achieved, with high tibial implant surface finish but no buckling deformation or obvious adhering slag. Studying the above modeling and molding methods can provide important foundation for the individualized design and direct manufacture of tibial implant.