Anisotropic Stiffness Design for Mechanical Parts Fabricated by Multi-Material Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

Stiffness is an important property of mechanical structures, particularly when it is necessary for a structure to contact other structures while in motion. In this study, we employed the advantages of additive manufacturing (AM) technology to create a multi-material structure and to investigate its stiffness properties. Herein, we also present an analytical model for designing a mechanical structure consisting of two-material, single-beam units, which was verified using a finite element simulation in our study. As an example, a two-material structure with the desired stiffness was fabricated using commercially available AM technology and employing both a soft material (natural rubber) and a hard material (acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene resin, ABS).