Advanced Surface Color Quality Assessment in Paper-Based Full-Color 3D Printing

Abstract

Color 3D printing allows for 3D-printed parts to represent 3D objects more realistically, but its surface color quality evaluation lacks comprehensive objective verification considering printing materials. In this study, a unique test model was designed and printed using eco-friendly and vivid paper-based full-color 3D printing as an example. By measuring the chromaticity, roughness, glossiness, and whiteness properties of 3D-printed surfaces and by acquiring images of their main viewing surfaces, this work skillfully explores the correlation between the color representation of a paper-based 3D-printed coloring layer and its attached underneath blank layer. Quantitative analysis was performed using ∆E*ab, feature similarity index measure of color image (FSIMc), and improved color-image-difference (iCID) values. The experimental results show that a color difference on color-printed surfaces exhibits a high linear correlation trend with its FSIMc metric and iCID metric. The qualitative analysis of microscopic imaging and the quantitative analysis of the above three surface properties corroborate the prediction of the linear correlation between color difference and image-based metrics. This study can provide inspiration for the development of computational coloring materials for additive manufacturing.

Pigment Penetration Characterization of Colored Boundaries in Powder-Based Color 3D Printing

“…Tian et al skillfully explored the quantitative correlation between the color feature of a paper-based 3D-printed coloring layer and its blank layer attached underneath using ∆E* ab , the feature similarity index measure of color images (FSIMc), and an improved color image difference (iCID). This study ignored the problem of 3D sample boundary coloring [20]. Therefore, imagebased metrics have mature applications in the evaluation of the color-reproduction quality of color in 3D printing as efficient numerical visualization tools.…”

The Influence of Wedge Angle, Feedstock Color, and Infill Density on the Color Difference of FDM Objects

“…Color 3D printing is gaining increasing popularity in recent years, as it enables customized production in various industrial applications based on different substrates, including plastic [3][4][5][6][7], powder [8,9], paper [10][11][12][13][14], metal [15,16], glass [17], food [18], and organism [19]. While the seven categories of applications for color 3D printing techniques range from processes to coloring materials in 3D printing, they follow the same subtractive color theory standardized by the CIE (Commission Internationale de L'Eclairage) and the ICC (International Color Consortium) for 2D printing.…”

“…The high thermal expansion of pure polymers creates a loose bond between the layers during printing, leading to the formation of the staircase (Figure 1). As an inherent issue, the formation of staircases has a significant negative influence on the surface appearance of FDM parts [9][10][11][12][13].…”

“…The infill density defines the level of incorporating material inside the fabricated object. It may vary from 0 to 100%, depending on the required balance between material consumption and mechanical properties [10]. Generally, a higher infill density leads to a heavier and stronger part, which increases the cost and the material used for the printing process.…”

Cholesteric cellulose liquid crystal ink for three-dimensional structural coloration

“…Particularly, color reproduction is a significant aspect of 3D printing since a colored appearance of the printed objects would be most favorable for real-world applications such as ornaments, graphic labeling, information coding, etc. ( 14 – 17 ). However, the current feedstocks are mostly colored by doping with dyes or pigments, whose long-term color fidelity and stability remain an open question.…”