Optimum part deposition orientation and adaptive slicing in fused deposition modeling

Abstract

Part deposition time and surface finish are two important concerns in rapid prototyping (RP). These two items contradict with each other. Commonly, a concession is made between the two aspects pertaining to model building in RP.A concession between these two contradicting issues can be achieved by using an adaptive slicing scheme; however, selection of a proper part deposition orientation will further provide an improve solution. Current work is an effort towards obtaining an optimum part deposition orientation for fused deposition modeling process for enhancing part surface finish and reducing build time. Models for evaluation of average part surface roughness and build time are developed. Proposed methodology; which is studying the surface roughness of FDM processed part surface; can be used to obtain the optimum deposition orientation for any type of component and incorporates with an adaptively slicing algorithm for tackling the compromising issue of building speed and surface accuracy in RP.