Alloyed focuses on digital manufacturing of advanced metallic components. By combining expertise in metal additive manufacturing (AM) and materials modeling, Alloyed develops innovative AM-ready alloys for industries including aerospace, automotive, industrial, and medical.
The Challenge
Metal additive manufacturing, particularly through laser powder bed fusion (LPBF), presents significant technical challenges. The laser used to melt the metal powder at high temperatures needs to be precisely controlled, especially in complex geometries with fine details and varying topology. When working with high-value materials, optimizing the amount of metal melted is crucial to minimize waste and reduce production costs while ensuring quality. Additionally, processing mesh-based geometry models requires a deep technical understanding of computational geometry.
Our Contribution
Object partnered with Alloyed to address these challenges by developing algorithms and tools tailored to their needs.
- Geometry analysis and generation: We helped Alloyed with various computational geometry challenges relating to the constraints of the LPBF process. These include finding overhanging mesh faces, support generation methods, as well as 3D nesting and packing.
- Integrated Rhino and Grasshopper plugin ecosystem: We helped develop custom Rhino and Grasshopper plugins that helped Alloyed to process geometries accurately and efficiently. These workflow techniques supported the transition from design to production. The plugins fit into a CI/CD workflow that provided Alloyed engineers with the latest software.
- Software project management: We worked closely with Alloyed engineers, helping to realize software from the ground up. We went from detailed UI and backend specifications to fully unit-tested software, following Agile principles and using their preferred Kanban software. We were able to provide useful management as well as technical expertise.
“Working with Object is always an exciting and collaborative process. With them, we have been able to create useful tools, deployed consistently, that improve the workflow of our engineers.”
– Dr Umar Hossain, Senior Design Engineer at Alloyed
The Outcome
Through this collaboration, Alloyed achieved:
- Faster geometry preparation for additive manufacturing.
- Enhanced print quality through better mesh analysis and support generation.
- Streamlined workflows using Rhino Grasshopper interfaces that made complex processes more accessible.