Efficient Three Dimensional Modelling of Additive Manufactured Textile Structures

Abstract

Textile structures realised by Additive Manufacturing (AM) techniques have received increasing attention during the previous decade. Due to their potential to significantly improve upon both the geometric complexity and functionality available from conventional fibre-based textiles, AM textiles present a serious opportunity to design and develop novel solutions for conventional and high-performance textile applications. AM textiles also provide the capability to produce net-shape textile artefacts and allow the development of personalised, high-performance textiles from a variety of materials currently being processed by AM technologies. While the motivation exists for the wider-scale adoption of these novel structures, practical access to an efficient three dimensional (3D) modelling strategy limits their applications. The research presented here discusses the issues surrounding the 3D modelling of complex AM textiles and discusses dedicated methodologies developed for the generation of their conformal data. The research culminates with a robust methodology for the generation of AM textile apparel data suitable for manufacture by AM techniques.