Region-based layered infill area generation of STL models for additive manufacturing
ISSN: 1355-2546
Article publication date: 5 November 2020
Issue publication date: 8 January 2021
Abstract
Purpose
In the implementation of large-size additive manufacturing (AM), the large printing area can be established by using the tiled and fixed multiple printing heads or the single dynamic printing head moving in the x–y plane, which requires a layer decomposition after the mesh slicing to generate segmented infill areas. The data processing flow of these schemes is redundant and inefficient to some extent, especially for the processing of complex stereolithograph (STL) models. It is of great importance in improving the overall efficiency of large-size AM technics software by simplifying the redundant steps. This paper aims to address these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, a method of directly generating segmented layered infill areas is proposed for AM. Initially, a vertices–mesh hybrid representation of STL models is constructed based on a divide-and-conquer strategy. Then, a trimming–mapping procedure is performed on sliced contours acquired from partial surfaces. Finally, to link trimmed open contours and inside-signal square corners as segmented infill areas, a region-based open contour closing algorithm is carried out in virtue of the developed data structures.
Findings
In virtue of the proposed approach, the segmented layered infill areas can be directly generated from STL models. Experimental results indicate that the approach brings us the good property of efficiency, especially for complex STL models.
Practical implications
The proposed approach can generate segmented layered infill areas efficiently in some cases.
Originality/value
The region-based layered infill area generation approach discussed here will be a supplement to current data process technologies in large-size AM, which is very suitable for parallel processing and enables us to improve the efficiency of large-size AM technics software.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This research was financially supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2018YFB1105300) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51790174). All authors deeply thank the valuable comments and suggestions of the editors of Rapid Prototyping Journal and the anonymous referees which helped improve the presentation and quality of the manuscript.
Citation
Zhang, N., Zhang, L., Wang, S., Wen, S. and Shi, Y. (2021), "Region-based layered infill area generation of STL models for additive manufacturing", Rapid Prototyping Journal, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 99-111. https://doi.org/10.1108/RPJ-12-2019-0308
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited