A new adaptive slicing algorithm based on slice contour reconstruction in layered manufacturing process

Abstract

Layered manufacturing processes operate by building the part in layers, or slices. The layer thickness is controlled to trading off between part accuracy and fabrication time. Several adaptive slicing approaches have been proposed to reduce the printing time while improving the accuracy. In this paper, a novel adaptive slicing algorithm based on slice contour reconstruction is presented. This approach can be adapted for standard additive manufacturing machines because it does not rely upon using multiple distinct values of layer thickness along the build direction. A simple geometric engine allows our approach to be adapted to existing machines. Our contour reconstruction algorithm, based on Medial axis computation, leads to 30%-50% reduction on volumetric deviation and distance deviation between the original part surface and the deposited part surface. Alternatively, for a given user-specified tolerance, our approach allows increases of layer thickness by over 20%, result-ing is commensurate savings in build-time.