Laser Additive Manufacturing and Bionics: Redefining Lightweight Design

New layer wise manufacturing technologies such as Laser Additive Manufacturing (LAM) allow innovative approaches to product design. Especially for lightweight design in aircraft applications LAM offers new possibilities for load-adapted structures. However, to fully capture lightweight potential of LAM technologies new design guidelines and processes have to be developed. A novel approach to extreme lightweight design is realized by incorporating structural optimization tools, bionic structures and LAM guidelines into one design process. By consequently following this design process designers can achieve lightweight savings in designing new aircraft structures.