ORNL Slicer 2.0: Towards a New Slicing Paradigm

One fundamental step of additive manufacturing is slicing. Slicing is the conversion of a 3D mesh to a set of layers containing all the necessary pathing to construct the object. The slicing process is typically viewed as one step in a sequential additive manufacturing workflow: an object is designed in CAD, sliced, and subsequent G-code is sent to the additive manufacturing system for construction. While successful, this workflow has limitations such as the utilization of sensor feedback for pathing alteration. To address limitations and better take advantage of opportunities resulting from the Industry 4.0 revolution, researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed a new slicer, ORNL Slicer 2.0. Slicer 2.0 was developed with the concept of “on-demand” slicing whereby the slicer takes a more active role in object construction. In this paper, we describe the fundamental design philosophy of this new approach as well as the Slicer 2.0 framework.