Adjusting Surface Models of Cellular Structures for Making Physical Models Using FDM Technology.

Area of Science:

• * Engineering
• * Materials Science
• * Computational Modeling

Background:

• * Fabricating physical models of cellular structures requires precise surface models.
• * Errors frequently occur during the adjustment of surface models to achieve desired properties.
• * Addressing these errors before fabrication is crucial for model accuracy and utility.

Purpose of the Study:

• * To identify and repair errors in surface models of cellular structures during the planning phase.
• * To evaluate different accuracy settings for model design and tessellation.
• * To develop methods for repairing non-manifold geometry and smoothing surfaces.

Main Methods:

• * Designing cellular structure models with varying accuracy settings in PTC Creo.
• * Tessellating models and comparing them using GOM Inspect software.
• * Identifying errors such as duplicate surfaces and non-manifold geometry.
• * Proposing and implementing methods for error repair and surface smoothing.

Main Results:

• * Medium Accuracy settings in PTC Creo are adequate for fabricating physical cellular structure models.
• * Duplicate surfaces and non-manifold geometry were identified as common errors.
• * Non-manifold geometry led to local anisotropy in 40% of fabricated models due to altered toolpath strategies.
• * A repair method for non-manifold meshes and a surface smoothing technique were successfully developed.

Conclusions:

• * The Medium Accuracy setting is suitable for designing cellular models intended for physical fabrication.
• * Proposed methods effectively repair non-manifold geometry and smooth surfaces, enhancing model quality.
• * These findings contribute to the fabrication of higher-quality physical models of cellular structures.