Digital design integrity for additive manufacturing: examining reliability issues in the digital preproduction process. (2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Brown, Steven L.; Pierson, Harry A.
• Is Part Of: International journal of rapid manufacturing. Volume 7:Number 1(2018)
• Page Start: 43
• Page End: 58
• Publication Date: 2018
• Subjects: additive manufacturing -- 3D printing -- additive manufacturing quality -- meshing -- slicing -- toolpath generation -- CAD -- computer aided design -- tessellation -- translation verification; Manufacturing processes -- Periodicals; 670.4205
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1757-8817

Abstract

Despite a literature base stretching over three decades, the digital pre-production process for additive manufacturing continues to lack integration and robustness. Current best practice relies on operators to identify potential issues to prevent scrap and rework. While most academic research focuses on systematic tessellation approximation errors, this paper offers a detailed investigation of nonsystematic translation errors and their root causes. All stages of the digital pre-production process (tessellation, slicing, and tool path generation) were found to be equally vulnerable, and no common commercial software tool was found to be superior in its ability to prevent translation errors. Given the improbability of completely eliminating digital translation problems under the current paradigm, this paper proposes an alternative with new feedback loops to ensure digital design integrity.