Trans Motauto World
Vol. 10 (2025), Issue 1, pg(s) 3-8

TRANSPORT TECHNICS. INVESTIGATION OF ELEMENTS. RELIABILITY

Study on the Use of Polymer 3D-Printed Material for the Verification Process of a Metal Topology-Optimized Bracket

  • 1 University of Defence, Brno, Czech Republic
  • 2 Kbely Air Base, Praha, Czech Republic
  • 3 Real Estate Investor, Valašské Meziříčí, Czech Republic
  • 4 Brno University of Technology, Brno, Czech Republic

Abstract

The article proposes a cost-effective and rapid method for the preliminary verification of an optimized metal air brake bracket using a 3D-printed polymer model. The original bracket, used in light jet aircraft, is made of the aluminium alloy Al 2024 T351 and manufactured using conventional CNC machining technology. The study presents a structural optimized bracket, intended to be produced using 3D printing technology with AlSi10Mg material to reduce weight. The bracket is presented along with its static load, stress-strain analysis, and the weight structural optimization procedure using ANSYS Workbench. Modifications to the bracket’s shape were made to meet the static stress-strain and buckling characteristics of the original bracket, resulting in a 32% weight reduction. The complex model of the optimized bracket was verified both numerically using ANSYS Workbench and experimentally using 3D-printed bracket models made from substitute polymer ASA material, printed with the Prusa Mk3 printer. The article also presents the results of basic tensile material tests on ASA material coupons printed in various positions to determine the semi-isotropic characteristics necessary for numerical analysis. The substitute material bracket provides potential for indicative verification of the numerically optimized model, though its usage is limited. Finally, the article offers recommendations for further research.

Keywords

References

  1. B. K. Donaldson, Analysis of aircraft structures (Cambridge University Press, New York, 1997)
  2. T. H. G. Megson, An introduction to aircraft structural analysis (Butterworth-Heinemann, Burlington, 2010)
  3. M. F. Bensoe, O. Sigmund, Topology optimization (Springer, Berlin, 2003)
  4. R. Huang, M. Riddel, D. Graziana, J. Warren, S. Das, S. Nimbalkar, J. Cresko, E. Masanet, Energy and emissions saving potential of additive manufacturing: the case of lightweight aircraft components (Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 135, Nov 2016, Elsevier)
  5. L. Krog, A. Tucker, M. Kemp, R. Boyd Topology optimization of aircraft wing box ribs (10th AIAA/ISSMO Multidisciplinary Analysis and Optimization Conference, 30 Aug – 1 Sept 2004, Albany, New York)
  6. H. Ma, J. Wang, Y. Lu, Y. Guo Lightweight design of turnover frame of bridge detection vehicle using topology and thickness optimization (Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization, Vol. 59: 1007-1019, Springer, 2019)
  7. D. J. Munk, D. J. Auld, G. P. Steven, G. A. Vio On the benefits of applying topology optimization to structural design of aircraft components (Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization, Vol. 60: 1245-1266, Springer, 2019)
  8. Y. Sao, B. Lu, D. K. Xu, J. Chen, H. Ou, H. Long, P. Guo Topology-based preform design optimization for blade forging (Int. J. of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, Vol. 86: 1593-1605, 2016)
  9. M. Tomlin, J. Meyer Topology optimization of an additive layer manufactured (ALM) aerospace part (The 7th Altair CAE Technology Conference, 2011)
  10. B. T. Warwick, Ch. K. Mechevske, I. Y. Kim Topology optimization of a pre-stiffened aircraft bulkhead (Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization, Vol. 60: 1667-1685, Springer, 2019)
  11. J. H. Zhu, W. H. Zhang, L. Xia Topology optimization in aircraft and aerospace structures design (Archives of Computational Methods in Engineering, Vol. 23: 595-622, Springer, 2016)
  12. I. Gibson, D. Rosen, B. Stucker Additive manufacturing technologies (Springer, New York, 2015)
  13. J. Liu, Y. Ma A survey of manufacturing oriented topology optimization methods (Advances in Engineering software, Vol. 100: 161-175, Elsevier, 2016)
  14. O. Sigmund, K. Maute Topology optimization approaches (Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization, Vol. 48: 1031-1055, Springer, 2013)
  15. G. Rozvany The SIMP method in topology optimization – Theoretical background, advantages and new applications (8th AIAA/USA/NASA/ISSMO Symposium on Multidisciplinary Analysis and Optimization, Long Beach, CA, 6-8 Sept, 2000)
  16. Topology optimization solution methodology (ANSYS online documentation, 2019)
  17. ASM Handbook, Properties and selection: Nonferrous alloy and special-purpose materials (Vol. 2: 189-275, 1990)
  18. Aluminum 2024-T4; 2024-T351 (ASM Aerospace Specification Metals Inc., 2023)
  19. J. Hub A study on topology optimization of airplane air brake bracing beam (Int. Conference on Military Technologies ICMT 2019. Piscataway, USA: Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Inc., 2019)
  20. K. Semrad, K. Draganova Methodology for repeated load analysis of composite structures with embedded magnetic microwires (Metalurgija, Vol. 56, No. 1-2: 175-178, 2017)
  21. B. J. D. Bernal, E. C. N. Silva, W. M. Rubio Characterization of effective Young´s modulus for fused modeling manufactured topology optimization design (The Int. J. of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, Vol. 103: 2879-2892, 2019)
  22. Technical data sheet: Prusament ASA by Prusa Polymers (2024. [Online]. [cit. 2025-04-18] Available: https://prusament.com/materials/prusament-asa/)
  23. J. R. C. Dizon, A. H. Espera, Q. Chen, R. C. Advincula Mechanical characterization of 3D-printed polymers (Additive manufacturing, Vol. 12: 44-67, Elsevier, 2018)
  24. W. Cahyadi Mechanical properties of 3D Printed Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylate (Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 3187, 2019)
  25. Y. L. Yap, W. Toh, R. Koneru, Z. Y. Chua, K. Lin, K. M. Yeoh, Ch. M. Lim, J. S. Lee, N. A. Plemping, R. Lin, T. Y. Ng, K. I. Chan, H. Guang, W. Y. B. Chan, S. S. Teong, G. Zheng Finite element analysis of 3D-Printed Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylate (ASA) with Ultrasonic material characterization (Int. J. of Computational Science and Engineering, Vol. 08, No. 01, 2019)
  26. T. Primo, M. Calabrese, A. D. Prete, A. Anglani Mechanical characterization of 3D-printed polymers (The Int. J. of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, Vol. 93: 467-479, Springer, 2017)
  27. Technical data sheet: Prusament PETG by Prusa Polymers (2024. [Online]. [cit. 2025-04-18] Available: https://prusament.com/materials/prusament-petg/)

Article full text

Download PDF