Tailoring coil geometry for achieving uniform heating through coil shape topology optimization for induction heating-based metal wire additive manufacturing
ISSN: 1355-2546
Article publication date: 25 October 2024
Issue publication date: 22 January 2025
Abstract
Purpose
Induction heating as an energy source is a novel, recent method in extrusion-based metal additive manufacturing. The purpose of this paper is to develop an optimized coil for extrusion-based metal wire additive manufacturing. The optimized coil is so designed that uniform temperature distribution can be achieved in the extruder, achieving uniform material deposition in a semi-solid state, which is required for additive manufacturing.
Design/methodology/approach
Coil shape optimization is achieved by using arrangement of coil turns as a control variable in the form optimization process, and the objective function is to minimize the gradient in the distribution of the magnetic field to achieve uniform heating in the extruder for maintaining consistent solid and liquid fraction during material deposition. A combination of numerical solutions and geometrical optimization has been used for this study.
Findings
Experimental and simulation results reveal that the optimized induction coil produced a more uniform axial temperature distribution in the extruder, which is suitable for maintaining a uniform solid-to-liquid fraction ratio during material deposition.
Originality/value
The author has investigated the use of optimized-shaped induction coils in extrusion-based additive manufacturing. The optimized coil can achieve a more uniform temperature distribution in the extruder in comparison to the standard helical coil used in the existing process, which means optimized coil achieves a more uniform solid-to-liquid ratio during printing in comparison to existing standard coil shapes used for heating extruders and fulfils the requirement of additive manufacturing.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank DST/TDT/AMT, India, for providing financial support. The present work has been carried out under the DST/TDT/AMT-sponsored project “Development of induction conduction-based material deposition system for metal additive manufacturing” (DST/TDT/AMT/2017/119/G). Also, the authors acknowledge the software license support of COMSOL Multiphysics received from the I-STEM program funded by the office of the principal scientific adviser to the Government of India.
Preprint information: In accordance with the journal’s guidelines, the authors would like to disclose that a preprint of this manuscript has been deposited in SSRN repository, with DOI https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4330314. The preprint has not undergone peer review and is publicly accessible for the purpose of fostering early dissemination of our findings and to invite feedback from the research community.
Citation
Choubey, R.K., Patil, M. and Jain, P.K. (2025), "Tailoring coil geometry for achieving uniform heating through coil shape topology optimization for induction heating-based metal wire additive manufacturing", Rapid Prototyping Journal, Vol. 31 No. 2, pp. 327-343. https://doi.org/10.1108/RPJ-08-2024-0360
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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