CPC B29C 64/386 (2017.08) [B29C 64/118 (2017.08); B33Y 10/00 (2014.12); B33Y 30/00 (2014.12); B33Y 50/00 (2014.12)] | 13 Claims |
1. A method for fabricating an article, the article configured to experience, during operation of the article, a physical field having a non-uniform intensity over the extent of the article, the method comprising:
generating, by a computer system, representations of layers of the article, each layer comprising an infill portion, wherein a representation of each layer's infill portion comprises a corresponding molecular dynamically generated lattice having cells, wherein generating the molecular dynamically generated lattice for a corresponding layer's infill portion comprises:
(i) obtaining an initial node distribution over the extent of the infill portion of the layer,
(ii) force balancing the spacing between the nodes in the initial node distribution toward a force balance equilibrium to generate a force balanced node distribution, wherein the force balance equilibrium is adjusted based on the physical field having the non-uniform intensity,
(iii) computing an intermediate lattice having triangular cells, such that vertices of a triangular cell correspond to three adjacent nodes of the force balanced node distribution, and
(iv) computing the molecular dynamically generated lattice having polygonal cells with 4 to 8 walls, such that sides of a polygonal cell correspond to segments between centers of adjacent triangles of the intermediate lattice: and
for each layer of the article, printing, by an additive manufacturing printer in communication with the computer system, a respective structure embodying the corresponding molecular dynamically generated lattice in the layer's infill portion.
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