Using Skeletons for Void Filling in Large-Scale Additive Manufacturing

In additive manufacturing (AM), slicing software is used to generate tool paths that are then converted to G-Code, which tells the 3D printer how to build a part. Toolpaths are generated using closed-loop paths. Sometimes the space left for a closed-loop is not sized perfectly. This can lead to overfill or underfill issues. Therefore, skeletonization of a polygon seeks to resolve this issue by creating an open-loop path to fill the voids between adjacent toolpaths. A straight skeleton was used to explore this work. Straight skeletonization represents the topological skeleton of a shape through line segments. After skeletonization, the extrusion rate can be varied to adjust bead width more precisely to fill the gap.