Geometric Stability of Parts Produced by 3D Printing

Abstract

The article focuses on an analysis of the long-term dimensional stability of parts produced by additive technology (using 3D printing). The models were already manufactured by different additive technologies such as FDM, PolyJet, SLS, and SLA a year ago. These models would be scanned using an ATOS II 400 3D contactless scanner and inspected by GOM Inspect Professional V8 depending on the principles of the 3D printing and optical digitisation. The parts were dimensionally and shape inspected 3 months after production, one year after production and one year after production with exposure to climatic tests (test-1: cyclic changes in the temperature and humidity, test-2: exposure to ultraviolet radiation). Then this analysis of measurement was compared with the CAD model and the printed model on the first day after printing. Based on this analysis, and from the point of view of ageing with respect to time, the technology and material that have a good dimensional and shape stability are discussed.

Keywords

• additive technology
• fused deposition modelling
• geometric stability
• PolyJet, selective laser sintering
• stereolithography
• 3D optical scanner