Part surface quality improvement studies in fused deposition modelling process: a review

ABSTRACT

Nowadays fused deposition modelling (FDM) is being utilised in prototyping, the printing of fully operational parts and direct part production purposes. However, surface quality issues in the FDM process such as volumetric error, shape deviation, and surface finish have always remained a challenge. These issues cause various restrictions in acquiring the ideal surface quality in FDM built parts. In this regard, various studies have been conducted to resolve the FDM part surface quality separately at the pre and post-processing stages. However, part surface quality-associated issues are efficiently observed and supervised if these previously developed studies can be reviewed with a combined outlook of both pre and post-processing stages because particular processing stage subsequently influences the next processing stage. Therefore, in the present work, various studies were reviewed to provide comprehensive knowledge to observe and control the overall part surface quality in pre and post-processing stages.

KEYWORDS:

• Additive manufacturing (AM)
• fused deposition modelling (FDM)
• volumetric error
• allowances
• shape Deviation
• computer-aided surface quality visualisation
• surface finish

Acknowledgments

PDPM Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design and Manufacturing Jabalpur, Jabalpur-482005, Madhya Pradesh, INDIA.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mohammad Taufik

Mohammad Taufik  is  an  Assistant  Professor  in  the  Department of Mechanical  Engineering  of  Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. He received his PhD in the field of additive manufacturing from the PDPM Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design and Manufacturing Jabalpur.  His research work on additive manufacturing/3D printing had been published in reputed journals and conferences.  He is also serving as a principal investigator (PI) of project titled “Development of a Pellet and Filament Form Integrated Multi-Material Co-Extruder System for Improved Additive Manufacturing Process” sponsored by SERB-DST under its Start-up Research Grant (SRG) scheme.  Earlier, he has served as senior research fellow at PDPM IIITDM Jabalpur on SERB-DST sponsored research project.  His interests include CAD/CAM, Additive Manufacturing/3D Printing, Rapid Prototyping & Tooling, Micro Fabrications in Manufacturing, Micro and Nano Finishing and General Mechanical Engineering Design.

Prashant K. Jain

Prashant K. Jain is an Associate Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Discipline of the PDPM Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design and Manufacturing Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India. He obtained his PhD degree at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi in the area of additive manufacturing process. He has published and presented several research articles on part quality improvement in the SLS and FDM process in leading International journals and peer-reviewed International conferences. He is currently dealing with several sponsored research projects as PI & Co-PI. Earlier he has served as Project Scientist and Research Associate at IIT Delhi. His research interests include additive manufacturing, rapid prototyping & tooling, CNC machining, geometric modeling, CAD/CAM integration, computational geometry, human power energy devices and nano technologies in manufacturing.