Temporal Design for Additive Manufacture: GrowCAD

Additive manufacture, also known as 3D printing, offers many benefits to industry and medicine such as reductions in weight, material costs and medical implants personalised to the patient. Currently additive manufacture has a relatively low uptake due to a series of technical barriers that are preventing its progression into end-use parts. One of these barriers is design. Design for additive manufacture (DfAM) requires the engineer to think in a different way, one that is the completely opposite to design for traditional manufacturing methods such as milling. Similarly, the majority of software on the market is computer aided design (CAD) which has been developed to support the design of parts using traditional manufacturing methods.

This research approaches this challenge, from a radically different perspective. Growth in animals and plants involves the expansion and multiplication of cells, to incrementally increase the volume of the form. In this way additive manufacture, which bonds material point by point, is analogous to growth. Two novel design techniques will be developed in this project. They are drawn from concepts seen in the development of the fetus and the plant root, and integrated into a software called GrowCAD. The development of GrowCAD will create a software interface which is more intuitive to DfAM. The platform will also incorporate Temporal Design, which will increase creativity in the design of additively manufactured materials. The design approaches will be confirmed against the AM and testing of biomaterials for cardiovascular implants and three industrial applications proposed by the project partners.

This project offers a solution to the challenges that face DfAM, across industrial and medical applications. This research offers benefits to the UK economy by increasing the uptake of additive manufacture, and the inherent upskilling of design engineers through use of the software. In addition, there will be benefits to society through increased creativity in the design of cardiovascular implants, and thus enhanced levels of personalisation in healthcare.

This project will reinforce the UK as a leader in design for additive manufacture (DfAM) by launching a new trajectory for the research discipline with economic value being generated by the project outcomes and follow on projects in the efficiency and creativity of DfAM and upskilling of engineers.

This project will create impact in the international academic community and the economy, society and people of the UK as follows:

- The design and additive manufacture (AM) academic communities will benefit from this project as it defines a completely new trajectory of research in DfAM. This project will demonstrate a novel approach in design methodology and software, utilising concepts taken from developmental biology. The software will also allow the integration and efficient application of geometric DfAM constraints, for any characterised AM material and platform. The biomedical engineering, translational medicine and clinical academic communities will benefit from the increased creativity and efficiency in the DfAM of cardiovascular materials, phantoms and implants. Finally this project, demonstrates the value of highly interdisciplinary research, and thus will provide a platform for future cross-disciplinary projects with the mathematical biology and developmental biology communities.
- The outcomes of this project offer increased creativity and efficiency in DfAM, whilst inherently upskilling the design engineer through use of the software. Through reduced costs in the design process, the project will increase the application of AM. Therefore the benefits of AM (reduced time to market, reduced cost, reduced part weight and customisation) will be experienced more widely through UK and international organisations. Impact will be accelerated through the direct involvement of three industrial organisations (who are experts in design and AM) in the research.
- The project will benefit society by its application to medical devices. Temporal design offers the ability to customise implant materials to the patient, thus enhancing the capacity of personalised medicine. The clinical partner on the project will facilitate this impact through increased exposure to the clinical and world-leading biomedical research communities.
- This research will be led by two women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) and offers a unique perspective on the design-manufacture interface. Therefore the research and public engagement activities included in this project will showcase the value of diversity in STEM.