Laser Additive Manufacturing in Industry 4.0

Additive manufacturing is one of the nine technologies fuelling the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0). High power lasers augmented with allied digital technologies is changing the entire manufacturing scenario through metal additive manufacturing by providing feature-based design and manufacturing with the technology called laser additive manufacturing (LAM). It enables the fabrication of customized components having complex and lightweight designs with high performance in a short period. The chapter compiles the evolution and global status of LAM technology highlighting its advantages and freedoms for various industrial applications. It discusses how LAM is contributing to Industry 4.0 for the fabrication of customized engineering and prosthetic components through case studies. It compiles research, development, and deployment scenarios of this new technology in developing economies along with the future scope of the technology.

Ontology-Based Calculation of Complexity Metrics for Components in CAD Systems

The high complexity of assemblies and components in Computer-Aided Design (CAD) leads to a high effort in the maintenance of the models and increases the time required for adjustments. Metrics indicating the complexity of a CAD Model can help to reduce it by showing the results of changes. This paper describes a concept to calculate metrics aiming to describe the extent of complexity of components in CAD systems based on an ontology-based representation in a first step. The representation is initially generated from CAD models using an automated process. This includes both a boundary representation and the history of the feature-based design. Thus, the design strategy also contributes to measuring the complexity of the component so that the same shape can lead to different complexity metrics. Semantic rules are applied to find patterns of the design and to identify and evaluate various strategies. Different metrics are proposed to indicate the particular influence factors of complexity and a single measure for the overall complexity. Furthermore, the influencing factors can also be used to allow the designer to see how to reduce the complexity of the component or assembly.

Laser Additive Manufacturing in Industry 4.0

Additive manufacturing is one of the nine technologies fuelling the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0). High power lasers augmented with allied digital technologies is changing the entire manufacturing scenario through metal additive manufacturing by providing feature-based design and manufacturing with the technology called laser additive manufacturing (LAM). It enables the fabrication of customized components having complex and lightweight designs with high performance in a short period. The chapter compiles the evolution and global status of LAM technology highlighting its advantages and freedoms for various industrial applications. It discusses how LAM is contributing to Industry 4.0 for the fabrication of customized engineering and prosthetic components through case studies. It compiles research, development, and deployment scenarios of this new technology in developing economies along with the future scope of the technology.

A Design Method for Orthopedic Plates Based on Surface Features

Matching of orthopedic plates and bony surfaces does not have a high certainty of success because bone anatomy differs among individuals. Considering that surfaces of both orthopedic plates and bones manifest themselves as freeform surfaces and are especially suitable for surface feature-based design, a novel surface feature-based method for designing orthopedic plates is put forward, with detailed steps as follows. First, the bone surface feature (BSF) is established through feature representation of an average bone surface model, obtained based on the investigated samples. Second, the abutted surface of an orthopedic plate is established directly based on the BSF surface to increase matching between the plate and bony surface. The abutted surface feature (ASF) is then established through feature representation of the abutted surface. Third, the hierarchical mapping relationship between BSF and ASF is setup based on the framework of “three-level parameters and two-grade mappings.” The result is that semantic parameters defined on BSF and ASF are separated as an operation interface to make it convenient to edit orthopedic plates according to bone sizes. Finally, the orthopedic plate is generated by thickening the abutted surface, which is generated based on parameters defined on BSF. Taking radius as an example, a group of volar plates suitable for distal radius with different sizes are generated, showing that the proposed method is valid and feasible. Meanwhile, biomechanical stresses of designed volar plates are analyzed with finite element analysis, and the result shows that designed volar plates have good structural strength.