New multi-material manufacturing technologies demand the development of new mechanical design
approaches, as seen in the production of hybrid components through Tailored Forming. Thereby, a new
class of high-performance multi-material parts aiming for enhanced properties, such as lightweight properties,
can be constructed and brings with it new challenges. The objective of this paper is to develop a
method for finding the optimal material distribution for such multi-material components. Thereunto,
Topology Optimization techniques were reviewed, focusing on the progress made on multi-materials
and manufacturing constraints implementations. Following, a new method was developed and analyzed,
called Interfacial Zone Evolutionary Optimization (IZEO), and here expanded for a multi-material
approach. This method makes use of the Evolutionary Algorithms methodology to solve structural optimization
problems and provides a flexible way to implement manufacturing constraints. Finally, some
cases are presented, in which the developed tool was able to generate a multi-material and manufacturable
high-performance design.
|