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An Investigation into Curved layer deposition for fused deposition modelling.
Abstract
Rapid prototyping is a form of additive fabrication which is used to make three
dimensional objects with shorter lead times. Fused Deposition modelling (FDM) is a
type of Rapid prototyping, in which a semi solid plastic material is extruded layer by
layer to build up a part. This is achieved by modelling of the desired part in 3D and
converting this into 2D slices, which would be then readable by the machine and will
hence build the part layer by layer. This type of fabrication is now being used in a
number of applications from moulds for industrial components to reconstructing
human body parts; however this type of manufacturing has not been widely accepted
because of a number of limitations in the areas of – range of materials suitable,
reduced output quality and strength, dimensional accuracy etc.
The main barrier with this type of Rapid prototyping technology is that they are
created by adding layers on top of one another. These create a lamination effect
resulting in parts which are weak in strength. In addition there may be more issues
like poor surface finish, large number of layers which may increase production time.
A little of these shortfalls could be corrected if the material could be deposited in a
curved fashion compared to the traditional flat layer deposition approach. Developing
a curved layer deposition methodology can improve part quality by reduced
lamination, reduction in the staircase effect which leads to improved dimensional
accuracy of the part and improved strength due to better bonding and continuity
between layers.
The main aim of this project is to create a new type of rapid prototyping in which the
layers of material which make up the part can be deposited in curved layers. This will
help in the direct production of parts of curved and complicated shapes and sizes.
This in turn will enable in an improvement in the production times of the parts
manufactured as flat layers, better product strength, and improved overall surface
quality. This is achieved by doing preliminary research and investigation into the
concept of curved layer fused deposition modelling (CLFDM), studying the work
done on this field till date, analyzing the shortcomings and develop a working
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