Strength Analysis And Improvement Of The Movable Beam From A Certain Metal Additive Manufacturing Equipment

Currently, the Additive Manufacturing Technology (AMT) which has been applied widely,has developed rapidly. With the continuous development of large-size metal functional component based on AMT, the research for new type metal additive manufacturing equipment has been a tendency. Considering with the AM equipment's large structure-size and complex working-conditions, these researches that include structural strength analysis and structure optimization, play an important role in improving the quality of printed product. This paper focuses on a movable beam from a certain metal 3D printer and applies both Finite Element Method (FEM) and two improvement methods to complete the strength analysis and structure improvement. Based on the idea of FEM, this paper does the following three researches including finite element model, strength analysis and improvement design.1. Build the movable beam's geometric model with Pro/E software and divide the geometric model into regular blocks with ANSYS software. Build the cross-beam's finite element model with the application of the combination of mapped mesh and free mesh.2. Based on the printer's operation principle and the movable cross-beam's working condition,the beam's physical model can be simplified. Based on the related theories of mechanics and machinery design,the beam's mechanical model can be built and solved. Establish the beam's local coordinate system so that the loading position and constrain surface can be expressed with the coordinate. Figure out the finite element solution with ANSYS software and analyze the cross-beam's stress distribution under the set ten working conditions.3. This paper finally puts forward two improvement methods including traditional counterweights method and flexible lever method to solve the problems such as unbalanced force, excessive stress etc. from the working moveable beam. According to the analysis, the flexible lever method is used as the final improvement method.According to the flexible lever method, the linear guide's x-component operation load decreases from 550.27kN to 501.11kN, and that of the y-component decreases from 102.9kN to zero. Moreover, those problems introduced above are solved to some extent and the goal of improvement design for the movable beam is completed basically.