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Design for Additive Manufacturing: Automated Build Orientation Selection and Optimization

Authors :
Wessel W. Wits
Marijn P. Zwier
Faculty of Engineering Technology
Source :
Procedia CIRP, 55, 128-133. Elsevier
Publication Year :
2016
Publisher :
Elsevier BV, 2016.

Abstract

Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, is an emerging type of production technology that is seen as the core technology for future high-value engineered products. Due to the additive nature of stacking and unifying individual layers, the part and process design is substantially different from conventional production methods. This paper addresses one of the challenging design aspects for additive manufacturing, namely the determination of the build orientation. The build orientation has a large impact on the final part quality and must therefore be chosen wisely. This paper presents an approach to support the build orientation selection by a feature-based design algorithm. After automated part tessellation and the detection of outer part surfaces, the algorithm determines candidate build orientations through a ray-tracing and convex hull method. Candidate solutions are ranked based on minimizing overhang structures, as this also minimizes the need for additional support structures.

Details

ISSN :
22128271
Volume :
55
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Procedia CIRP
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....736bfb1cae1fe0c0e94004e2b4e65188
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2016.08.040