Skeleton Based Perpendicularly Scanning - A New Scanning Strategy for Additive Manufacturing: Modeling and Optimization

Abstract

In this paper, the authors propose a novel strategy of 2D scanning that might be adapted for any additive manufacturing process. The featured novelty corresponds to a Skeleton Based Perpendicularly (SBP) of the 2D shape of each slice. Thus, it is proposed to minimize the total production time of a given layer under some constraints. In other word, it is proposed to study the competitiveness conditions of the new scanning technique regarding the classical chess scanning strategy from a productivity perspective. In order to introduce this new technique, the paper treats the case of a rectangular layer. The competitiveness of the proposed technique was discussed according to chess decomposition parameters, the hatch space distance, and the dimensions of the primitive rectangle layer to analyze. The indicators introduced corresponds to “the gain of production time” and “the specific gain of production time per surface unit”; then, these latter were computed and discussed in two separated cases of study. The findings show that, by the adoption of the SBP technique instead the chess scanning strategy, it is possible to save about 3% to 45% of production time gain for the first case of study. The gain of production time per surface unit was analyzed in the second case of study. The correspondent analysis permitted to highlight the percentage of gain of time related to the area to scan. Indeed, the gain per surface unit varies between 4.32×10-6%/mm2 and 6.96×10-05%/mm2. In one hand, these indicators depend linearly on the decomposition strategy of the central area of the SBP technique and also according to the rectangle dimensions. In addition, for the lowest values of hatch space, around 25µm, the two techniques in competition present quasi-similar production time, where the variations between them is minimal. Nevertheless, starting from 65µm, the SBP scanning strategy present considerable less time of production judged as exponentially decreasing according to the hatch space distance. Finally, one can see that the scanning model proposed could present major contributions in other scientific and technical fields that use surface control as territorial security, water adduction and distribution, telecommunication, etc. by varying and adapting the decision variables according to each field of study.