Topology Optimization as an Enabler of Additive Manufacturing: A Case Study

Additive manufacturing (AM) has diversified applications in various industries. Due to the requirement of complex designs with lower demand, the automobile and aerospace industries are the forerunners in adopting AM technology. Topology optimization is used to reduce the mass of various components. Due to the manufacturing constraints of traditional manufacturing, the application of topology optimization was limited. With the advent of AM, the application of topology optimization has increased due to the high design flexibility offered by AM. In this context, this case study presents topology optimization as an enabler of AM and demonstrates different stages in topology optimization and its weight-reduction benefits. Topology optimization was conducted on a helical gear made of Ti–6Al–4V through the ANSYS Workbench 2021 R1 academic version, and the CAD model of the gears was designed using SolidWorks 2020. The weight of the gear was reduced by 12.2% in Case 1 and 25.18% in Case 2.