Dimensional accuracy in additive manufacturing (AM) is still an issue compared with the tolerances for injection molding. In order to make AM suitable for the medical, aerospace, and automotive industries, geometry variations should be controlled and managed with a tight tolerance range. In the previously published article, the authors used statistical analysis to develop linear models for the prediction of dimensional features of laser-sintered specimens. Two identical builds with the same material, process, and build parameters were produced, resulting in 434 samples for mechanical testing (ISO 527-2 1BA). The developed linear models had low accuracy, and therefore needed an application of more advanced data analysis techniques. In this work, machine learning techniques are applied for the same data, and results are compared with the previously reported linear models. The linear regression model is the best for width. Multilayer perceptron and gradient boost regressor models have outperformed other for thickness and length. The recommendations on how the developed models can be used in the future are proposed.
Additive manufacturing (AM) is an attractive technology for the manufacturing industry due to flexibility in its design and functionality, but inconsistency in quality is one of the major limitations preventing utilizing this technology for the production of end-use parts. The prediction of mechanical properties can be one of the possible ways to improve the repeatability of results. The part placement, part orientation, and STL model properties (number of mesh triangles, surface, and volume) are used to predict tensile modulus, nominal stress, and elongation at break for polyamide 2200 (also known as PA12). An EOS P395 polymer powder bed fusion system was used to fabricate 217 specimens in two identical builds (434 specimens in total). Prediction is performed for XYZ, XZY, ZYX, and Angle orientations separately, and all orientations together. The different non-linear models based on machine learning methods have higher prediction accuracy compared with linear regression models. Linear regression models only have prediction accuracy higher than 80% for Tensile Modulus and Elongation at break in Angle orientation. Since orientation-based modeling has low prediction accuracy due to a small number of data points and lack of information about the material properties, these models need to be improved in the future based on additional experimental work.
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