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Featured Application: This paper proposes a methodology allowing any designer to be able to produce multi-material parts. Nowadays, the use of 3D printing is becoming a key process for on-demand and customized manufacturing. One of the most flexible 3D printing techniques is fused deposition modeling (FDM), where the combination of multiple materials was recently introduced. A quantum leap in part design is possible by integrating local variations between materials that allow for expanded functionality to be built into a single part. Therefore, the process of co-extrusion and material mixing is becoming more and more popular. The process of management and design of the engineered part are still complicated, and there are no commercially available tools that follow the process from design to production of these highly engineered products. This paper proposes a methodology to fill this gap and allow any designer to be able to produce multi-material parts by editing a G-code (computer numerical control programming language) with engineered gradients for FDM technology. More specifically, the proposed approach is based on the modification of the G-code according to a volumetric model describing the local combination of two or more materials. This original aspect allows for a wide extension of the current software capabilities. To explain and test the method, a simple test case was investigated, in which two components of an earphone are consolidated and developed gradually by combining polylactic acid and thermoplastic polyurethane. The results show the effectiveness of the proposed approach within the limits of the material coextrusion additive manufacturing process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) resin block material for restoration of single-implant abutments can be milled and cemented on an optimized standard titanium abutment as a cheaper solution or, alternatively, individualization of the crown–abutment connection is required to fulfill the same mechanical requirements. The aim of this study was to evaluate how different structural and geometric configurations of the abutment influence the resistance of a nano ceramic resin crown (NCRC). During the test, 30 implants with an internal conical tapered configuration were considered. Each implant received a standard titanium abutment: in group 1, NCRCs were directly bonded to the titanium abutments; in group 2, NCRCs were cemented on a customized zirconia framework and then cemented on a standardized titanium abutment. Three crowns of each group were submitted to a static load test until failure. The remaining crowns were submitted to a fatigue test protocol with a dynamic load. The static and dynamic test showed earlier failure for group 1. In group 1, complete breaking of NCRCs was observed for all samples, with an almost total titanium abutment exposition. In the static tests, group 2 showed a mode of failure that involved only the crown, which partially debonded from the zirconia abutment. Within the limitations of the present preliminary study, it was possible to conclude that the shape of the abutment mainly influences the fatigue strength compared to the static tensile strength. The results of the performed test show that NCRC bonded to the customized zirconia abutments, and presented a 75% survival rate when compared to the same material bonded directly to a standard titanium abutment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Featured Application: Automotive, aeronautical, space, biomedical, and marine engineering. An important issue when designing conformal lattice structures is the geometric modeling and prediction of mechanical properties. This paper presents suitable methods for obtaining optimized conformal lattice structures and validating them without the need for high computational power and time, enabling the designer to have quick feedback in the first design phases. A wireframe modeling method based on non-uniform rational basis spline (NURBS) free-form deformation (FFD) that allows conforming a regular lattice structure inside a design space is presented. Next, a previously proposed size optimization method is adopted for optimizing the cross-sections of lattice structures. Finally, two different commercial finite element software are involved for the validation of the results, based on Euler–Bernoulli and Timoshenko beam theories. The findings highlight the adaptability of the NURBS-FFD modeling approach and the reliability of the size optimization method, especially in stretching-dominated cell topologies and load conditions. At the same time, the limitation of the structural beam analysis when dealing with thick beams is noted. Moreover, the behavior of different kinds of lattices was investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additive Manufacturing (AM) brought a revolution in parts design and production. It enables the possibility to obtain objects with complex geometries and to exploit structural optimization algorithms. Nevertheless, AM is far from being a mature technology and advances are still needed from different perspectives. Among these, the literature highlights the need of improving the frameworks that describe the design process and taking full advantage of the possibilities offered by AM. This work aims to propose a workflow for AM guiding the designer during the embodiment design phase, from the engineering requirements to the production of the final part. The main aspects are the optimization of the dimensions and the topology of the parts, to take into consideration functional and manufacturing requirements, and to validate the geometric model by computer-aided engineering software. Moreover, a case study dealing with the redesign of a piston rod is presented, in which the proposed workflow is adopted. Results show the effectiveness of the workflow when applied to cases in which structural optimization could bring an advantage in the design of a part and the pros and cons of the choices made during the design phases were highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

background: resin-bonded fixed dental prosthesis (RBFDP) represents a highly aesthetic and conservative treatment option to replace a single tooth in a younger patient. The purpose of this in vitro study was to compare the fracture strength and the different types of failure on anterior cantilever RBFDPs fabricated using zirconia (ZR), lithium disilicate (LD), and PMMA-based material with ceramic fillers (PM) by the same standard tessellation language (STL) file. Methods: sixty extracted bovine mandibular incisives were embedded resin block; scanned to design one master model of RBFDP with a cantilevered single-retainer. Twenty cantilevered single-retainer RBFDPs were fabricated using ZR; LD; and PM. Static loading was performed using a universal testing machine. Results: the mean fracture strength for the RBFDPs was: 292.5 Newton (Standard Deviation (SD) 36.6) for ZR; 210 N (SD 37.6) for LD; and 133 N (SD 16.3) for PM. All the failures of RBFDPs in ZR were a fracture of the abutment tooth; instead; the 80% of failures of RBFDPs in LD and PM were a fracture of the connector. Conclusion: within the limitations of this in vitro study, we can conclude that the zirconia RBFDPs presented load resistance higher than the maximum anterior bite force reported in literature (270 N) and failure type analysis showed some trends among the groups [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]