High-efficiency multi-scale strategy for TPMS-based conformal heterogeneous structures

Abstract

Heterogeneous structures are widely used in additive manufacturing for lightweight and versatility due to their superior flexibility and physical properties. However, previous fusion methods struggle with transition region control, parameter matching, and solving, leading to structural deformation and mechanical failures. Additionally, heterogeneous design is always accompanied by conformal designs to meet specific application scenarios, yet its computational cost and accuracy have received insufficient attention. This work introduces a multi-scale strategy to accelerate the design and fabrication of conformal heterogeneous products by interacting field variables at different scales. The structures are represented using triply periodic minimal surfaces (TPMS). We propose a novel fusion method that directly employs driving fields to generate smooth heterogeneous structures while ensuring precise transition control. Furthermore, we propose an adaptive signed distance field algorithm to reduce the computational cost. The proposed methods are comprehensively evaluated through simulations and physical experiments. Results demonstrate that our method is highly effective in precise control, smooth transition, load carrying, and energy absorption. Compared with existing methods, our method exhibits superior robustness, efficiency, and accuracy. This work provides a novel solution for computer-aided design and additive manufacturing, enabling the rapid development and fabrication of conformal heterogeneous structures with higher energy absorption and precise controllability.