Abstract: Continuous path and unsupported molding of complex configurations are necessary for 3D printing of long carbon fiber.The traditional three-axes 3D printing of Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) adopts the method of plane slicing and profile-oriented path planning,which cannot avoid the generation of support due to the single forming direction and suspended structures,besides,it cannot be extended to the curved surface space due to the lack of internal geometric information caused by profile-oriented path planning.Thus,the methods of surface slicing and continuous path planning on surface for Continuous Carbon Fiber (CCF) 3D printing with manipulator were proposed.Through the voxel processing of 3D model,the integrity of spatial information was assured.Meanwhile,the forming without support was guaranteed with a series of voxel surface layers decomposed under the constraints of without support and collision.Then,using the fast marching grid geodesic algorithm to form continuous equidistance helical offset paths in curved space,the paths were smoothed and optimized to ensure the continuity of paths on this basis.Gcode file for 3D printing of the robotic arm was generated.The feasibility of the proposed method was proved by simulation comparison and printing experiments of various 3D models,and the unsupported continuous path planning with curved surface layers was realized.

Key words: continuous carbon fiber 3D printing, fused deposition modeling, robot arm, voxelization, curved surface path planning

摘要： 碳纤维长纤3D打印对路径的连续性和复杂构型的无支撑成型均提出了需求。传统三轴熔融沉积3D打印采用平面切片和基于轮廓的路径规划方法,由于成型方向的单一性,悬空结构无法避免支撑的产生;由于采用基于轮廓的路径规划,缺少内部几何信息,无法扩展到曲面空间。针对以上问题,提出了基于机械臂的连续碳纤维3D打印曲面切片和曲面连续路径规划方法。通过三维模型的体素化处理,保证空间信息的完整性;在无支撑无碰撞约束下,分解成系列体素曲面层,保证无支撑成型;采用Fast Marching网格测地线算法,形成曲面空间的连续等距螺旋偏置路径,并对路径进行平滑优化,保证路径的连续性;最后生成用于机械臂3D打印的Gcode路径文件。通过多种三维模型路径规划仿真对比和打印实验,证明了该方法的可行性,实现了曲面分层的无支撑连续路径规划。

关键词: 连续碳纤维3D打印, 熔融沉积, 机械臂, 体素化, 曲面路径规划