Optiknot 3D—Free-Formed Frameworks out of Wood with Mass Customized Knots Produced by FFF Additive Manufactured Polymers: Experimental Investigations, Design Approach and Construction of a Prototype

Free-formed frameworks are architecturally appealing constructions. They allow for maximum creative freedom as well as for a structural optimization of the support structure. The design and construction of these kind of structures is complex however, and therefore challenging, with each frame member having an individual length, each cladding plate an individual dimension and especially each knot having an individual geometry. The result is that geometry optimization and production technology become the most important processes when striving for an economic and ecological construction. The goals of the authors are the automation of the design process by applying a parametric model and the collection of the complete complexity in the knots as well as the production of these knots without material wastage by additive manufacturing. The development process was split into three different phases: (1) Preliminary experiments determining the tension, compression and bending load-bearing behavior of the knots produced by additive manufacturing, using different polymer-based materials: ABS, ASA, PA-CF, PA6CT, PCX, PETG and a mixture of PLA and ABS. (2) Development of an automated digital workflow for the design and production of these structures by the use of a parametric approach. (3) Design, production and assembly of a full-scale prototype in the form of a free-formed shell structure spanning an area of 20 m(2). The prototype was made from fumed oak wood members in combination with white stained plywood panels connected by knots produced by Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) additive manufacturing, using polymer-based materials and screws. At the end of the contribution, a summary and an outlook on further research is given.