Evaluation of surface finish, form and dimensional accuracy of 3DP rapid prototypes

M. Arunachalam, G. Arumaikkannu

Abstract

Three Dimensional Printing (3DP) is one among the Rapid Prototyping (RP) techniques that is evolving towards Rapid Manufacturing (RM). Speed and accuracy are the functional requirements of an RP system. The prototype quality is evaluated by surface finish, dimensional and form accuracy obtained from RP process. There is lack of published data dealing with influence of process parameters on prototype quality in 3DP process. The experiment design was made using Taguchi orthogonal array and a evaluation model was built for each experimental run. Using a 3-D coordinate measuring machine and surface profilometer, a series of measurements in evaluating the 3DP parts quality has been conducted and nonlinear regression model was developed to find the functional relationships between the response variables and process parameters of 3DP. SEM images were taken on 3DP models to study surface topography. The optimal setups of 3DP process parameters for obtaining better prototype quality is proposed.

Keywords

Three Dimensional Printing; Nonlinear regression; SEM; Taguchi method

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IMEKO-TC14-2007-12.pdf

DOI

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IMEKO TC

TC14 - Measurement of Geometrical Quantities

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