Development of a heat flow code to simulate production of a functionally graded material robotic gripper using the additive manufacture process

The additive manufacture process is thermally-complex – many different material mechanisms are occurring due to the heating/cooling cycle that parts are put through when the material is deposited. This complexity is compounded when parts are made from a combination of materials, as in functionally graded material (FGM) parts. To better understand this complexity, a Python™ code has been developed to plot heat flow through the part as material is being deposited. The outputs of such code will highlight the influence of the deposition tool path and indicate to the engineer what areas of a part may require redesigning. A robotic arm gripper is used as a test bed throughout the development of the code.