Title: Effect of fractal curve based toolpath on part strength in fused deposition modelling

Authors: Narendra Kumar; Saquib Shaikh; Prashant K. Jain; Puneet Tandon

Addresses: Mechanical Engineering Discipline, PDPM Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design and Manufacturing Jabalpur, Jabalpur 482005, Madhya Pradesh, India ' Mechanical Engineering Discipline, PDPM Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design and Manufacturing Jabalpur, Jabalpur 482005, Madhya Pradesh, India ' Mechanical Engineering Discipline, PDPM Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design and Manufacturing Jabalpur, Jabalpur 482005, Madhya Pradesh, India ' Mechanical Engineering Discipline, PDPM Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design and Manufacturing Jabalpur, Jabalpur 482005, Madhya Pradesh, India

Abstract: In Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) process, choice of toolpath strategies affects the mechanical properties of the built parts. Present investigation deals with development of new toolpath strategy based on a fractal curve for FDM process and shows its effect on tensile strength of the built parts. An algorithm was developed using Boolean operations for generating fractal curve based toolpath. Tensile specimens were fabricated for the fractal as well as raster based toolpaths and strength had been compared. In order to carry out the part fabrication, an extruder head was developed and used on an existing CNC machine. Results show that parts made with fractal curve based toolpath have better tensile strength.

Keywords: fractal curves; Hilbert curves; toolpath strategies; fused deposition modelling; FDM; Boolean operations; CNC milling; screw extrusion; build orientation; tensile strength; delay time; part strength; extruder head; additive manufacturing.

DOI: 10.1504/IJRAPIDM.2015.073576

International Journal of Rapid Manufacturing, 2015 Vol.5 No.2, pp.186 - 198

Received: 16 Sep 2015
Accepted: 12 Nov 2015
Published online: 12 Dec 2015 *

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