Optical housing made by additive manufacturing

Additive Manufacturing provides the potential to manufacture complex geometries. It can be used for optomechanical parts such as housings for optical systems. They have to meet various mechanical specifications and often require a minimized mass. By using different optimization techniques, the design of an optical housing was generated with three approaches. In addition to the conventional design approach, topology optimization and foam-like lightweight structures were tested. In a proof-of-concept study, two designs were additively manufactured from an aluminum silicon alloy. These housings are used to verify the required post-process steps.