Proceedings of the 20th World Congress

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Federation of Congress
Automatic Control
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Proceedings of
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the 20th
20th World
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Automatic Control
July 9-14, 2017
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IFAC PapersOnLine 50-1 (2017) 14940–14945
Additive
Additive Manufacturing
Manufacturing -- Considerations
Considerations on
on
Additive
Additive Manufacturing
Manufacturing
Geometric Accuracy --and
Considerations
Considerations
Factors of on
on
Geometric
Geometric Accuracy
Accuracy and
and Factors of
Geometric Accuracy
Influence and Factors of
Factors of
Influence
Influence
Influence
Eduardo Umaras ∗,1 ∗,1 Marcos S. G. Tsuzuki ∗,2
∗,2
Eduardo
Eduardo Umaras ∗,1 Marcos S. G. Tsuzuki ∗,2
Eduardo Umaras Umaras ∗,1 Marcos Marcos S. S. G.G. Tsuzuki
Tsuzuki ∗,2
∗
∗ Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
∗ Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
∗ Escola Politécnica andda Universidade de
Mechatronics
Escola Politécnica
Mechatronics and daMechanical
Universidade
Mechanical
Systems
Systemsde São
São Paulo,
Paulo, São
Engineering
Engineering
Paulo,
Paulo, Brazil.
SãoDepartment
Department Brazil.
Mechatronics and Mechanical
Computational
MechatronicsComputational
and MechanicalGeometry Systems
Geometry Engineering
Laboratory
Systems Engineering Department
Department
Computational Laboratory
Computational Geometry Geometry Laboratory Laboratory
Abstract: Additive Manufacturing (AM) is presenting an increasing growth in the last decades
Abstract:
Abstract: Additive
Additive Manufacturing
Manufacturing (AM)
(AM) is
is presenting
due to itsan increasing growth in the last in decades
regarding the
Abstract:
regarding the
production
Additive
production
of mechanical
Manufacturing
of mechanical (AM) is presenting
parts,
parts, presenting
due to its
an increasing
increasing growth
outstanding
anoutstanding growth in
in the
characteristics
characteristics the last
last
in
decades
relation
decades
relation
regarding
to conventional
regarding the
the production
processes. of
production of mechanical
Indeed,
mechanicalAM can parts, due
produce
parts, due to
parts
to its
its outstanding characteristics
with unique geometries
outstanding characteristics at once,in
in relation
which
relation
to
to conventional
could otherwise processes.
conventional processes.
require a lot Indeed,
Indeed, AM
AM
of different can
can produce
produce
operations parts
parts with
with
or processes. unique
unique
However, geometries
geometries at
at once,
once,
like subtractive which
which
and
to conventional
could otherwise processes.
require a Indeed,
lot of AM
different can produce
operations parts
or with
processes. unique
However, geometrieslike at once,
subtractive which
and
could
forming
could otherwise
processes, require
otherwise require AM a
is lot
prone
a lot of different
to operations
geometrical
of different operationsvariations,or processes.
which
or processes. However,
can affect
However, like
the
like subtractive
fit and
subtractive and
function
and
forming
and evenprocesses,
forming aestheticAM
processes, AM is
is prone to geometrical variations, which can affect the fit and function
forming
and even processes,
aesthetic AM is prone
features
features proneof
to
to geometrical
of its
its
produced parts.
geometrical
produced
variations,
variations,
parts.
This work
This
which
whichaims
work
can
aims
can toaffect
to
affect the
the fit
describe
describe fitaaand
and function
research
function
research
on
on
and
and even
the main
even aesthetic
AM processes
aesthetic features
features of
regarding
of its
its produced
sources ofparts.
produced dimensional
parts. This
This work
work aims
variations
aims to
to indescribe aa research
the mechanical
describe research on
parts
on
the
the main
main AM Theprocesses
resultingregarding sources of dimensional
to provide variations in the mechanical parts
main AM
production.
the
production. AM The
processes
processes
resulting
regarding
analysis can
regarding
analysis
sources
be useful
sources
can be
of
of dimensional
useful dimensional
to provide
variations
designers with
variations
designers
in
in the
with theways
ways
mechanical
of geometrical
mechanical
of geometrical
parts
parts
production.
errors
production. The
compensation
The resulting
and
resulting analysis
correction
analysis can
in
can be
AM
be useful
related
useful to
to provide
designs.
provide designers
Copyright
designers with
c
2017
with ways
waysIFAC.of
of geometrical
geometrical
errors
errors compensation
compensation and and correction in AM related designs. Copyright cc
2017
2017 IFAC.
errors
© 2017,compensation
IFAC (International and correction
correction
Federation of
in AM
AM related
in Automatic related designs.
designs.
Control)
Copyright
Copyright
Hosting by Elsevier c Ltd. IFAC.
2017 IFAC.
All rights reserved.
Keywords: Additive Manufacturing, AM, Rapid Manufacturing, Direct Manufacturing, Rapid
Keywords:
Keywords:
Tooling, Additive
Additive
Layer Manufacturing,
Manufacturing, AM,
Manufacturing. AM,
AM, Rapid Rapid Manufacturing,
Rapid Manufacturing,
Manufacturing, Direct Direct Manufacturing,
Manufacturing, Rapid
Direct Manufacturing, Rapid
Keywords:
Tooling, Additive
Layer Manufacturing,
Manufacturing. Rapid
Tooling, Layer
Tooling, Layer Manufacturing.
Manufacturing.
1. INTRODUCTION them. Several researchers have already studied specific
1.
1. INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION them.
them.
processes, Several
whoseresearchers
Several researchers
findings are have
have already
already
referred ahead studied
in thespecific
studied specific
text.
1. INTRODUCTION them.
processes, Several
whose researchers
findings arehave already
referred ahead studied
in the specific
text.
The production processes known until some decades ago processes, processes, whose findings are referred ahead in the text.
whose findings are referred ahead in the text.
The
The production
production
were production processes
processes
Subtractiveprocesses known
known until
Manufacturing until
until some
some
(e.g.: somemilling,decades
decades
turning, ago
ago
The
were Subtractive known
Manufacturing (e.g.: milling,decades
turning, ago
were
were Subtractive
drilling) and Forming
Subtractive Manufacturing
Manufacturing
Manufacturing (e.g.:(e.g.:
(e.g.: milling,
casting,
milling, turning,
forg-
turning,
drilling)
drilling)
ing, and
and
stamping). Forming
Forming
Additive Manufacturing
Manufacturing
Manufacturing (e.g.:
(e.g.:
(AM) casting,
casting,
also forg-
forg-
known 2. AN OVERVIEW ON THE MATERIAL ADDITIVE
drilling)
ing, and
stamping). Forming
Additive Manufacturing
Manufacturing (e.g.:
(AM) casting,
also forg-
known 2.
2. AN OVERVIEW ON THE MATERIAL ADDITIVE
ing, stamping).
as Layer
ing, Additive(LM),
Manufacturing
stamping). Additive Manufacturing
is a recent(AM)
Manufacturing (AM)
computer also depen-
also known
known 2. AN AN OVERVIEW
OVERVIEW ON THE
THE MATERIAL
PROCESSES
ON
PROCESSES MATERIAL ADDITIVE ADDITIVE
as
as Layer
Layer
dent Manufacturing
Manufacturing
technology that has (LM),
(LM),
proven is
is a
a
its recent
recent
success computer
computer
as an optiondepen-
depen- for PROCESSES
PROCESSES
as
dent Layer Manufacturing
technology that has (LM), isits a recent computer depen-
dent
dent technology
production
technology that in
of parts
that hasa proven
has proven its success
success as
wide application
proven its success as an
an option
range,
as an option
but still
option
for
for Additive Manufacturing is a technology which is being
for
production of parts in a wide application range, but still Additive
production
subject
production to of
some
of parts
parts in
important
in a
a wide
wide application
limitations.
application AM range,
can
range, but
generate
but still
still effectivelyManufacturing
Additive
Additive applied in two is
Manufacturing
Manufacturing is
main
is
aa technology
a technology
areas (Gebhardt,
technology
which
which is
is being
is being
which 2011): being
subject
subject to
high complexity some
to some important
some items,
important limitations.
limitations.
whichlimitations.
could be very AM
AM can generate
can generate
difficult generate effectively
or even effectively applied
applied in
in two
two main
main areas
areas (Gebhardt,
(Gebhardt, 2011):
2011):
subject
high to
complexity important AM can effectively applied
• Prototyping, and in two main areas (Gebhardt, 2011):
high
high to beitems,
complexity
impossible
complexity items, which
which could
manufactured
items, which could be
be very
by other
could be very
very
difficult
difficult or
conventional
difficult or even
or even
pro-
even •• Prototyping, and
impossible
impossible
cesses. Thisto to
to be manufactured
be manufactured
unique manufactured
feature allows by other
bysaving
other of conventional
conventional
material (prod- pro-
pro- Prototyping,
•• Manufacturing
Prototyping, and
and- MFG.
impossible
cesses. This be
unique feature allows by other
saving conventional
of material pro-
(prod- • Manufacturing
Manufacturing -- MFG.
MFG.
cesses.
uct cost)
cesses. This unique
andunique
This feature
weightfeature allows costs)
(operational
allows savingby
saving of material
of material (prod- The
design topolog-
(prod- • AMManufacturing
term used -forMFG.
prototyping is Rapid Prototyping
uct
uct
ical cost)
cost) and
and
optimization weight
weight (operational
(operational
(Marchesi et costs)
costs)
al., 2015). by
by design
design
The topolog-
topolog-
absence of The AM term used for prototyping is Rapid Prototyping
uct cost) and weight (operational costs) by design topolog- The
(RP),
The AM
AM whichterm
term used
includes
used for
for prototyping
Solid
prototyping is
is Rapid
Imaging/Concept Rapid Prototyping
Modelling
Prototyping
ical
ical
waste optimization
optimization
material, like(Marchesi
(Marchesi
chips et
et
resultingal.,
al., 2015).
2015).
from The
The
machining, absence
absence is alsoof
of (RP), which includes Solid Imaging/Concept Modelling
ical optimization (Marchesi et al., from
2015). The absence (RP),
and
of (RP), which
Functional includes
Prototyping.
which includes Solid
Solid As Imaging/Concept
As the names
Imaging/Concept Modelling
indicate, a solid
Modelling
waste
waste material,
material,
a greatmaterial, like
like
AM advantage chips
chips resulting
resulting
in terms from
of saving machining,
machining,
energy, material, is
is also
also and Functional Prototyping. the names indicate, a solid
waste like chips resulting from machining, is also and
image
and Functional
is a
Functional Prototyping.
touchable
Prototyping. scaled As
As the
real
thepart names
part
names indicate,
which a
a solid
substitutes
indicate, solid
aatooling
great
great AM
AM
and advantage
advantage
man power in
inasterms
terms
well. of
of
Duesaving
saving
to energy,
energy,
different material,
material,
processes image is a touchable scaled real which substitutes
a great AM
tooling and advantage
man power inasterms
well. of
Duesaving
to energy, processes
different material, image aimage is aa touchable
two-dimensional
is touchable drawing, scaled able
scaled real to
real part
part which
be which substitutes
rotatedsubstitutes
in space,
tooling
of materialand addition
man power
power as well.
well. Due
developed Due
up toto tonow,
different processes
the term AM serving a two-dimensional
aa two-dimensional drawing,
drawing, model ableable to
to be rotated in space,
tooling
of materialand man
addition as
developed up to different
now, the processes
term AM serving
as the concept
two-dimensional
as the conceptdrawing, model able
or to be
or “mock-up”
“mock-up”be rotatedof thein
rotated
of the
space,
inproduct
space,
product
of material
shall be
of material addition
used with
addition developed
care, to
developed up
avoid
up to to now,
confusion, the
now, thesince term
since
termthere AM
there
AM serving serving
and as
showing
as the
the concept
just an
concept model
actual
model or
image
or “mock-up”
of
“mock-up”the of
product
of the
the product
features.
product
shall be used with care, to avoid confusion, on and showing just an actual image of the
shall
shall
are
be used
are several
be
several
used with care,
different
with
different
care,
ways to
ways
to
of
avoid confusion,
of adding
avoid
adding
confusion,
different
since there
different materials
since
materials
there
on
and
and showing
The functional
showing just an
an actual
prototype
just actual image
is an
imageactual of part,product
of the
the product features.
features.
rather than
product just
features.
are
itemsseveral different
intended for ways
diverse of adding
purposes. different
Due to materials
its computer on The
The
a functional prototype
functional prototype
representation, prototype
able to is an
is an actual
an actual
validate actual
the part,
part,
product rather
rather than
than just
performancejust
are
items several different ways of adding different materials on The functional is part, rather than just
based intended
items
items intended
technology,
intended
for
for AM
for
diverse
diverse
diversealsopurposes.
presents Due
purposes.
purposes. easyto
Due
Due to
its
its computer
toapplication
its computer
computer on ain aa representation,
representation,
its previewed
representation,
able
able
able
to
to
functionality.
to
validate
validate
validate
the
the
the
product
product
product
performance
performance
performance
based
reversetechnology,
based engineering AM
technology, AM also
also presents
to generate presents
new parts, easy application
easyalmost
application
identical, on
on in its previewed functionality.
based technology, AM also presents easy application on in
in its
itsAMpreviewed
previewed functionality.
functionality.
reverse
reverse
by means engineering
engineering
of to
to generate
generate
three-dimensional new
new
(3D) parts,
parts, almost
almost
scanning ofidentical,
identical,
existing The term used for manufacturing is Rapid Manufac-
reverse
by means engineering
of to generate
three-dimensional new
(3D) parts, almost
scanning ofidentical,
existing The
The AM
AM term
term used
used isfor
for manufacturing
manufacturing is
is Rapidand Manufac-
by
by means
parts,
means of
instead
of three-dimensional
of a completely
three-dimensional (3D)
new
(3D) scanning
design
scanning (Chen of
of existing
and
existingNg, turing
The
turing AM (RM),
(RM),term which
used
which fordivided
is divided
in Direct Tooling
manufacturing
in Direct is Rapid
Rapidand
Tooling
Manufac-
Direct
Manufac-
Direct
parts,
parts, instead
instead of
1997). instead of a completely
of aa completely
completely new new design
new design
design (Chen(Chen
(Chen and and
and Ng, Ng,
Ng, turing turing
MFG, (RM),
i.e.,
(RM), AM which
can
which is
be divided
used
is used
divided in
either Direct
for
in Direct Tooling
producing
Tooling theand
the Direct
tooling
andtooling
Direct
parts,
1997). MFG,
MFG,
(e.g.: i.e.,
i.e.,
casting AM
AM can
can
models be
be used
and either
either
cores) orfor
for producing
producing
the final the
product tooling
itself.
1997).
1997). MFG,
(e.g.: i.e.,
casting AM can
models be used
and either
cores) orfor producing
the final the
product tooling
itself.
This work aims to review and analyse the geometric ac- (e.g.: Another
(e.g.: casting
term,
casting models
Rapid
models and
Tooling
and cores)
cores) (RT) or
or the
is
the final
also product
used
final to
product itself.
represent
itself.
This
This
curacy work
work
of aims
aims
some to
to
AM review
review and
and
processes, analyse
analyse
to supply the
the geometric
geometric
everyone ac-
ac-
inter- Another term, Rapid Tooling (RT) is also used to represent
This work aims to review and analyse the geometric ac- Another
both
Another term,
Prototype
term, Rapid
Tooling,
Rapid Tooling
intended
Tooling (RT)
(RT) is
for
is also
also used
functional
used to
to represent
prototype,
represent
curacy
ested inof some AM processes,
adequateto supply
supply everyone on the inter-
main both Prototype Tooling,
curacy
curacy
ested in
ofthe
of
the
some
study
some
study
AM
AM with
with
processes,
processes,
adequate
toinformation
to supply
information
everyone
everyone
on the
inter-
inter-
main
both
and
both Prototype
Direct
Prototype Tooling,
Tooling.
Tooling, Fig.intended
1 shows for
intended
intended for
for
functional
functional
a diagram
functional
prototype,
prototype,
summarizing
prototype,
ested
sources in the
of study
dimensional with adequate
variation information
and ways of on the
dealing main
with and
and
the Direct
Direct
terms Tooling.
Tooling.
and their Fig.
Fig. 1
1
relationship. shows
shows AM a
a diagram
diagram
terminology summarizing
summarizing
was first
ested
sources in the
of study
dimensional with adequate
variation information
and ways of on the
dealing main
with and
the Directand
terms Tooling.
their Fig. 1 showsAM
relationship. a diagram
terminology summarizing
was first
sources of
sources of dimensional
dimensional variation
variation and and waysways of of dealing
dealing with with the terms
standardized
the terms and
and their
by relationship.
ASTM
their (ASTMAM
relationship. AM terminology
Designation
terminology was
was first
F2792-12a,
first
1 e-mail: eduardo.umaras@usp.br.
standardized
standardized
2012)and by
by
agreed ASTM
ASTM
by ISO (ASTM (ASTM
and ASTM Designation
Designation
(ISO/ASTM F2792-12a,
F2792-12a,
52900,
1 e-mail: eduardo.umaras@usp.br. standardized
2012)and by
agreed ASTM
by ISO (ASTM
and ASTM Designation F2792-12a,
(ISO/ASTM 52900,
2
1 e-mail: mtsuzuki@usp.br.
1
2 e-mail: eduardo.umaras@usp.br.
eduardo.umaras@usp.br.
2012)and
2015).
2012)and agreed
agreed by by ISO ISO and and ASTMASTM (ISO/ASTM(ISO/ASTM 52900, 52900,
2 e-mail: mtsuzuki@usp.br. 2015).
2015).
2 e-mail: mtsuzuki@usp.br.
e-mail: mtsuzuki@usp.br. 2015).
Copyright
2405-8963 ©© 2017,
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IFAC (International Federation of Automatic Control) Hosting by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2017 IFAC 15505
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Peer review© 2017
under IFAC
responsibility
Copyright © 2017 IFAC of International Federation of 15505
Automatic
15505Control.
10.1016/j.ifacol.2017.08.2545
 Proceedings of the 20th IFAC World Congress
Toulouse, France, July 9-14, 2017 Eduardo Umaras et al. / IFAC PapersOnLine 50-1 (2017) 14940–14945 14941
Fig. 1. AM Technology - Application levels and terminol-
ogy (Gebhardt, 2011).
Fig. 2. AM generic flow.
2.1 AM Workflow
AM involves several different processes and materials, but
in a rough analysis, a simple generic AM workflow may
be considered (Wong and Hernandez, 2012; Gebhardt,
2011; Gibson et al., 2010; Chua et al., 2003), as illustrates
Fig. 2. Specific details depend on each process. Steps are
described as follows.
CAD 3D solid or surface file creation All AM processes
start with a CAD 3D design, which results in a solid or
surface representation file. Almost any professional solid
modeling software can be used (Gibson et al., 2010). This
file can also be created by reverse engineering (Chen and
Ng, 1997), through laser scanning of an existing part.
File conversion The next step is the CAD file conversion
in a different format following described, depending on the
process technology considered. The chosen file type can
affect greatly the geometric accuracy of the AM part, as
later described.
STL Format (Stereo Lithography Language) The STL
formulation is currently the de-facto used one, and consist
on slicing the part volume and transforming resulting
slices in planar triangular facets, which size determines
15506
the layer thickness and the resolution (accuracy) chosen
by the designer for any given geometry. The greater the
number of triangle facets (smaller their size), the greater
is the resolution and the file size (Gibson et al., 2010;
Gebhardt, 2011). Alternative to STL have been proposed,
as STH (Surface Triangles Hinted) format, CFL (Cubital
Facet List) and RPI format (Kumar and Dutta, 1996).
After software conversion is ready, some adjustments are
needed for triangles vertices adjustment. This is done
by specific algorithms (Huang et al., 2002). Additional
correction is done manually (Gibson et al., 2010).
AMF Format AMF (Additive Manufacturing File) is
a format specified in ISO/ASTM (ISO/ASTM 52915,
2016), formerly ASTM F2915-12. It is a XML (eXtensible
Markup Language). Its major advantage over STL are
the consideration of a mesh of curved triangles rather
planar ones and the support of embedded features, like
different colors, materials and build orientations. Another
advantage of the AMF is the easy exchange of printable
files (Lipson, 2013).
STEP Format STEP (Standard for the Exchange of
Product model data) is a comprehensive exchange protocol
covering all functionalities in manufacturing. It can be
used in slicing an object using polyline or exact geometry.
Integrated resources (IRs) allow transfer of non-geometric
features, like materials and colors (Pratt et al., 2002). The
STEP library is composed by a set of standards included
in (ISO 10303-242, 2014).
STEP NC Format (ISO 14649, 2003) standard in its
several parts supplies data for intelligent process planning,
like procedures to remove material (Um et al., 2017), but
researchers are working towards an integration of AM with
its open platform (Cha et al., 2016; Um et al., 2017). This
platform can provide resultant surface high accuracy by
using geometric data directly, rather than using a mesh
based configuration, and also allows addition of multiple
materials (Um et al., 2017).
VOXEL BASED Format Consists of a volume dis-
cretization approach. A voxel in 3D discrete space is de-
fined by a unit cube centered at a particular point, being
small enough to be considered as a homogeneous lump. A
scalar value can be associated to a voxel to represent a
feature as a material or color. The process of converting a
CAD 3D representation into a voxel model is called vox-
elization (Bernard and Fischer, 2002). A 3D voxelization
can also be obtained through scanning of a human body
by means of computerized tomography (CT) and nuclear
magnetic resonance (NMR) (Kumar and Dutta, 1996).
Other file conversion formats
3MF Format (3D Manufacturing Format) is a file XML
based data format developed by the (3MF Consortium ,
2016) Consortium for AM application, which incorporates
information on colors, materials and other ones that can-
not be represented by the STL format. Basically it is a
3D printing format and no information is available on its
actual implementation.
JT Format (Jupiter Tessellation) is a standardized for-
mat (ISO 14306, 2012) used for product visualization and
CAD data exchange. Supporting the majority of commer-
Proceedings of the 20th IFAC World Congress
14942
Toulouse, France, July 9-14, 2017 Eduardo Umaras et al. / IFAC PapersOnLine 50-1 (2017) 14940–14945
Fig. 3. Generic LM Process device arrangement.
cial CAD 3D formats and due to its reduced size is ideal for
data transfer. The JT format contemplates a definition of
a tessellated representation with dedicated level of detail
and defines an exact geometry description based on BRep
and product and manufacturing information (Kovács and
Kochan, 2013).
Part build The converted file is transferred to the AM
machine. The operator can reposition the part or change
its orientation to permit building of more than one item
or improve part surface resolution.
Finishing This process stage is very application-specific.
A post-processing is necessary depending on the case,
which could include sandpapering, polishing or application
of coatings.
2.2 AM Processes
As its name indicates, AM comprehends all processes
that adds material during a part manufacturing, making
it difficult to enumerate all of them. In this work, only
the processes related to material layer addition - Layer
Manufacturing (LM) are considered and are following
described. The reason for this is that all LM processes
considers few basic steps (see Fig. 3):
(1) Material is fused, sintered or bound over a support
surface depending on the process type. The material
can be already laying in the surface (powder or
liquid) or can be projected over it (powder, binder,
extrusion), mainly by a beam fashion way and then
hatched over the surface following an external contour
defined by part’s horizontal slice, or layer, geometry;
(2) After the first layer is ready, the support surface
is lowered by a device at a distance equal to the
layer thickness and the material deposition follows the
same procedure of the preceding layer, including the
support surface lowering;
(3) When the last layer is ready, the process is finished
and the part is removed from machine compartment;
(4) Depending on the process and other requirements, a
post processing is performed before part delivery.
The part material is process dependent, that is, the mate-
rial selection leads to a specific LM process. An overview
on the AM processes can be found in (Wong and Her-
nandez, 2012). A comprehensive explanation on AM pro-
15507
cesses is found in (Gebhardt, 2011; Gibson et al., 2010;
Chua et al., 2003; Cooper, 2001). Main AM processes are
following briefly described.
Vat Photopolymerization Processes They make use of
liquid, radiation curable resins (photopolymers) as pri-
mary materials. Most photopolymers (monomers as well)
react to ultraviolet radiation, but others are cured even by
visible light wavelength radiation (Gibson et al., 2010).
Stereo Lithography (SL) In this process the resin is
contained in a vat, allowing just one liquid layer over
the support surface. The depositing process consists
on a laser source and a scanner system, composed by
a set of mirrors, that project the laser beam in a
point wise fashion over the resin layer, which is cured
when exposed. The scanning over the layer follows a
hatching pattern and is repeated in the further layers
after completion of each layer and lowering of the
support platform by one thickness step. Two other SL
configurations are (Gibson et al., 2010): Mask Projection
and Two-photon.
Material Extrusion These deposition processes may also
be considered liquid processes, since they are based on
melting of a thin plastic filament and its extrusion through
the nozzle of a scanning head. Common filament materials
are polycarbonate (PC), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene
(ABS) and some blends (Wong and Hernandez, 2012). AM
Material extrusion is also known as Fused Layer Modeling
- FLM. Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) is a Stratasys
registered trade name for FLM.
Laser Sintering (LS) In LS or SLS a powder is either
fused or sintered by a carbon dioxide laser beam. To
operate with a lower laser power, the machine chamber
containing the powder is heated near the material melting
point, which fuses with a small temperature differential.
The chamber is also flooded with a shielding gas to prevent
oxidation (Gebhardt, 2011). The laser scanning device is
similar to the SL process. After part completion, it needs
cooling down and cleaning up for powder removal. Sinter-
ing allows the processing of all classes of materials, i.e.,
plastics, metals, and ceramics, but plastics are commonly
used. Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) is a 3D Systems
Corporation registered trade name for LS.
Powder Bed Fusion is a process in which thermal energy
is used to locally fully melt regions of a powder bed.
Materials are generally metals, carbon steel, titanium,
aluminum and alloys are examples. Equipment differences
include a fiber laser beam and different shielding gases
(?). Processes are also known as Laser Melting or Selective
Laser Melting (SLM). Electron Beam Melting (EBM) is an
AM powder based process where an electron beam is used
instead of the laser.
Material Jetting This is an AM process where a metal
powder is ejected by a nozzle and is melt by a laser
beam at a surface point. The molten metal solidifies when
it is cooled down. To prevent oxidation, an argon inert
atmosphere is provided at a closed work chamber (?).
Laser Engineered Net Shaping (LENS) is a material jetting
process.
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Binder Jetting resembles a 2D ink jet printing process at
each layer, where a liquid binder, instead of ink, is ejected
by a nozzle in a 2D scanning over powder lying in a surface.
Tridimensional Printing (3DP) is a process in which
material are deposited by a printer head or nozzle.
3. CONSIDERATIONS ON GEOMETRIC ACCURACY
OF AM PRODUCED PARTS
“Manufacturing of exactly equal parts is known from ex-
perience to be impossible”. This statement was registered
by Bjørke (1992) for material subtracting and forming
processes. As AM may be also considered a production
process, it is also subject to dimensional variations. So,
the aim of this work is to analyze how AM processes are
influenced by dimensional variations and how they can be
treated.
The accuracy prediction in AM processes is still an open
issue and this can be observed in the statement of re-
searchers - a drawback in diffusion of FDM is the ob-
tainable accuracy, only few indications relating the di-
mensional deviations exist and they are conflicting with
each other (Boschetto and Bottini, 2014). Analysis of the
subject literature also indicates two observations:
(1) The absence of an appropriate consideration on error
correction methods, involving repetitive errors (ge-
ometric) and non-repetitive errors (caused by sec-
ondary causes) (Nakazawa, 1994);
(2) The lack of a systematic analysis regarding produc-
tion processes, like Process Statistical Control (PSC)
on verifying measured values bias.
According to Liu et al. (1998a), LM produced parts
accuracy depends on an error propagation mechanism,
i.e., the resulting error is an effect of individual error
accumulation. Some researchers presented benchmarking
studies by Quality Function Deployment (QFD) to analyze
relationship strength among several accuracy influencing
factors (Dimitrov et al., 2006).
3.1 Design/ Software related inaccuracies
The first consideration must be made between the x − y
CAD model theoretical exact dimension and the process
beam/nozzle position, regardless of process type or ma-
terial being used. As the CAD scanning (hatching) soft-
ware considers the center line of the beam as the layer
contour, a theoretical error - one half of beam diameter
- can be present, as illustrates Fig. 4. So, in principle,
a compensation of half of the tolerance zone must be
considered for all CAD designs when LM is intended as
fabrication process. The designer must know the process
to be used and its beam diameter prior to deliver the CAD
file (Gebhardt, 2011). The second consideration on dealing
with the tolerance concern in AM processes is related to
the file conversion between CAD and AM machine used
software. Different conversion alternatives affect differently
the final result, as following described:
STL Format conversion As before mentioned, STL
Format transforms the original exact CAD geometry into
a triangulated mesh, which causes an error accumulation
15508
Fig. 4. CAD/Process contour variation.
iW
MFLadth
Anished
yer
process
side
thickness
surface
v
s
Fig. 5. Surface stair effect due to layer stacking process.
during the material addition process uses. The geometrical
inaccuracy concern observed in AM manufacturing, in the
z direction, is related to its primitive building concept,
that is, the layer contour generates a staircase effect on
part surface (Liu et al., 1998b; Dolenc and Mäkelä, 1994).
This feature causes an inherent roughness that, when
removed by finishing processes (e.g.: sand papering or
grinding), reduce outside dimensions as shown in Fig.
5. Kaji and Barari (2015) proposed a more realistic
model for the staircase effect - a step cusp profile -
based on 3D topography microscope images. Material
adding processes can also be considered with the due
considerations. Posttreatment is particularly important
when the surface is functional, that is, will be assembled
with other parts. Usually flat areas (those parallel to the
slicing direction) and features or peaks at the bottom
and the top of the model must be accurately reproduced,
either to achieve tolerances or for aesthetic reasons (Dolenc
and Mäkelä, 1994). Layer thickness is resulting of the
AM process type, but the smaller the layer thickness the
greater the number of layers and consequently greater is
the building time.
One way of dealing with this concern is to consider
different layer thicknesses (adaptive slicing) in the same
material adding process. This procedure was proposed
by Kulkarni and Dutta (1996). For example, vertical
surfaces may consider as great as possible layer thickness,
so speeding up the process time. Surfaces subject to
dimensional constraints may be made with thinner layer
height, allowing less post-processing.
Other design dependent LM inaccuracy factor refers to
the hatching style considered, which can jeopardize part
geometry, mainly if it is intended for tooling production
(hatching can be understood as a pattern of parallel mo-
vement of the beam/nozzle on building a layer). Accord-
ing to Onuh and Hon (2001), when layers are scanned
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(hatched) in just one direction, different part distortions
can occur, like postcure shrinkage, swelling, cantilever curl
distortion, vertical wall postcure distortion and horizon-
tal slab distortion. The alternate hatching between layers
makes the stresses uniformly distributed and normalizes
the residual stress (Onuh and Hon, 2001).
Another software related problem can occur during STL
file slicing, causing non-manifold facets, cracks, incorrect
facets normal and overlapping facets. Algorithms were
proposed to prevent these occurrences (Huang et al.,
2002; Leong et al., 1996a,b). Other algorithms to save
computation memory and improving slicing were also
proposed (Choi and Kwok, 2002).
AMF Format conversion Like in the case of STL, the
AMF format uses a triangulated mesh to approximate the
original CAD file. However, as the triangles are curved
and based on second degree Hermite curves, its error
accumulation is quite lower (Paul and Anand, 2015).
A concern cited by the same authors is that the curved
triangles are recursively transformed back in planar ones,
reintroducing the STL based errors, affecting the accuracy
in the same way.
STEP/STEP-NC Formats conversion According to
(Um et al., 2017), both STL and AMF based processes are
out of range for satisfying production processes tolerances
and result in warping as well. As STEP-NC uses geometric
data (BRep and CSG) instead of an approximated method,
the process can describe the geometry without loss of
accuracy. Comparison values are not cited.
Voxel based Format conversion (Doubrovski et al.,
2015) describe a Voxel based AM method and its ad-
vantage on working with heterogeneous materials, but do
not mention dimensional tolerance figures. No literature
information is available regarding 3MF and JT formats
regarding accuracy.
3.2 Process related inaccuracies
Process related geometry errors are mainly caused by the
equipment. According to Brøtan (2014), there were found
accuracy differences in parts produced between machines
from the same brand and model. A variety of errors can
be split in two major groups:
(1) x − y layer plane ones;
(2) z direction ones.
The layer building errors are mainly caused either by
the scanning machine device precision (e.g.: laser mirrors
position calibration) or by repositioning the workpiece
on support surface after an intermediate operation, when
applicable (Brøtan, 2014). The positioning direction of the
workpiece on the building platform also affects the part
side geometry (Paul and Anand, 2011; Pandey et al., 2007;
Ahn et al., 2007). For example, if a cylinder is built with its
central axis parallel to x direction, the stepped side surface
will be quite different from that if the part is positioned
in a inclined direction between x and y, leading to greater
surface roughness and subsequent post processing.
The z axis errors are affected by the workpiece lowering
device (Brøtan, 2014).
15509
A big constraint regarding LM processes concerns heat
dissipation to allow adequate molten metal solidification,
and supports must be dimensioned for thermal dissipa-
tion (Vayre et al., 2012). An important factor concerning
process is that the speed and acceleration of the deposition
nozzle (or radiation beam) must respect material’s melting
or sintering characteristics to prevent variations on layer
height (Vayre et al., 2012). (Cha et al., 2016) describe
the features of an STEP-NC intelligent manufacturing
technology, referring a two way CAD-CAM conversation.
Process accuracy could benefit of this feature in the future.
3.3 Material related inaccuracies
Material inaccuracies depend on material accommodation
after polymerization or cooling, which can produce:
(1) shrinking, which magnitude depends on the material
type and also curing/cooling time, and
(2) warping, caused by the same effects seen in shrink-
ing (Brøtan, 2014).
Shape problems may also vary according to materials:
stainless steel seems to add extra height in the z direction
at sharp edges, which affects the whole built (Brøtan,
2014). When metals are added by melting, post thermal
treatment for stress relieving must be considered for func-
tional parts and this can lead to part warping (Ponche
et al., 2014).
4. CONCLUSIONS
Additive Manufacturing is a promising technology devel-
oped during the last decades and involves several different
process concepts. Due to these features and that new pro-
cesses are being continuously developed, a comprehensive
approach regarding geometric accuracy covering all the
processes is a hard mission. The present work, result of
research of specific technical literature on the subject,
examines and displays the sources of part inaccuracies,
which start in the translation software from CAD design to
the machine hardware and terminate on the layer material
hatching. Differently from similar works, this text, at least,
attempts to study the problem in an overall way, gather-
ing similar different LM processes features and describing
possible solutions already proposed by area researchers for
each case. Rather than deepen the subject in specific mat-
ters, this work main intent is to present a short procedure
for an analysis on the treatment of geometrical accuracy
in LM produced parts.
5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Marcos Sales Guerra Tsuzuki was partially supported by
CNPq (grant 310.663/ 2013–0).
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