A Motion Planning Approach for Fabrication of Complex 3-D Shapes in a LENS� Process

This paper discusses an approach for planning the motion of the laser deposition head relative to the part for fabrication of complex 3-D shapes such as parts with overhangs, branches, and internal cavities in direct metal deposition processes such as the LENS‘ process. The proposed approach is based on slicing the solid model of the part into equal-thickness slices perpendicular to the normal build direction and formulating a motion planning strategy based on the properties of these slices. The paper discusses the four sub-approaches that are proposed to handle a variety of complex 3-D shapes parts.