A Visual Tool to Improve Layered Manufacturing Part Quality

Abstract

A software tool is described that will aid the user in. choosing the optimum build orientation to obtain the ..best composite set of surface finishes on a part built .on a Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) rapid prototyping machine.• Experiments were conducted to obtain statistical .surface roughness values as a function of orientation and layer thickness.Three types of surfaces (features}.have been. considered planar (both upward facing and downward facing (over hang surfaces)),.quadratic and free form Surfaces..Data analysis of surface roughness of planar surfaces at various orientations·and their mapping. to. quadratic and freeform surfaces are presented. decision support software tool allows dynamic .. color-coded visualization of the surface quality simultaneous with build parameters including orientation and layer thickness.