2-D Deposition Pattern and Strategy Study on Rapid Manufacturing

Different from the traditional machining processes, the quality of parts produced by the metal deposition process is much more dependent upon the choice of deposition paths. Due to the nature of the metal deposition processes, various tool path patterns will result in different shapes in the metal deposition process with about the same input geometry. This paper presents the research conducted on the effect of various scanning patterns and strategies for the deposition results. Triangle and rectangle patterns are selected as basic 2-D “cells” to plan the scanning path. Several criteria, like minimum angle, minimum length of edge, etc. are defined to categorize the different “cell” shapes. Based on deposition results, the suitable patterns are determined for each type. The previously defined patterns are applied for each cell in order to achieve the optimal quality. The experiment has demonstrated that the pattern and strategy selection has improved the deposition quality significantly.