Topological optimization and additive manufacturing of a metal functional panel for multi-mission modular satellite platform

The applications of Additive Manufacturing have significantly increased in many industrial areas, including crucial fields such as aerospace. A case study is presented in this paper: a metal functional panel for multi-mission modular satellite platform has been redesigned: namely, specific actions have been taken to allow the manufacturability of the component via laser powder-bed fusion, based on the general principle of topological optimization and the peculiar constraints of the selected technology for manufacturing. The effectiveness of the building process has been preliminarily validated by a numerical simulation and pre-production printing of representative samples of the panel. Post-processing of the final component has also been discussed.