Research on the study of the dimensional precision of the parts obtained by Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

This article presents research concerning the dimensional accuracy of parts obtained by additive manufacturing, 3D printing. The challenges of additive technology are exposed and also the need to have a vision on the influence of certain technological and geometric parameters on the precision of geometric surfaces. First, a virtual prototype was produced with Catia V5. Then, the virtual prototype was imported by the 3D machine software to obtain the prototyping codes for nine prototypes. The parameters of these prototypes were chosen with the Taguchi method. On the basis of the code obtained with the printer software, the parts have been prototyped, using the Z-ULTRAT material with a ZORTRAX M200 printer. All parts were measured and a database was created. The results were interpreted in order to establish the influence on the dimensional precision for the parts obtained by Additive Manufacturing.