Influence of slicer software on transformation of virtual data into porous microstructures

Figures & data

Figure 1. Overview of the described approaches and their workflow from left to right.

Table 1. Parameter settings for comparison of the different slicers.

Slicing parameter	Value (mm)
Layer height/thickness	0.2
Nozzle orifice diameter	0.4
Wall thickness/perimeter thickness	0.4
Top layers	0 (no cover)
Bottom layers	0 (no bottom)

Table 2. Experimental plan of element dimension and spacing parameters.

Sample	Element dimension (mm)	Element spacing (mm)
Single	0.4	0.8
Fine	0.8	1.6
Medium	1.2	2.4
Coarse	2.4	4.8

Figure 2. Application of the cubic cell approach.

The geometry output from Meshmixer is sliced in Cura and can be seen as a virtual print preview on the left. Printed strands are visualized as cylinders. An image of the printed sample is shown on the right. Some of the outer walls are removed for better view of inner structure. (A) Single sample, (B) fine sample, (C) medium sample and (D) coarse sample.

Table 3. Comparison of different slicers regarding infill structures and their modification.

Slicer	Infill types	Parameter/modifications
Slic3r 1.3	Rectilinear, aligned rectilinear, grid, triangles, stars, cubic, concentric, honeycomb, 3D-honeycomb, hilbert curve, archimedean chrods, octagram spiral	Fill density, fill angle
Cura 2.6.2	Grid, lines, triangles, cubic, cubic subdivision, tetrahedral, concentric, concentric 3D, zig zag	Infill density, infill line directions (list of angles)
KISSlicer 1.5	Straight, octagonal, rounded	Infill (infill density)
CraftWare 1.14	Parallel lines, square grid, triangle grid, 45°, 36°, 30°	Density, angle, increment (incremental angle per layer), thickness (multiple strands per line)
Mattercontrol 1.7.4	Grid, triangles, hexagon, lines, concentric	Fill density, starting angle
NetFabb Standard 2018	Rectilinear, honeycomb	Sparse infill density, sparse infill pattern, sparse infill angle, solid infill angle
Simplify3D 4.0.0	Rectilinear, grid, triangular, wiggle, fast honeycomb, full honeycomb	Interior fill percentage, infill extrusion width, internal infill angle offset

Figure 3. Slicer infill approach.

Preview of sliced output as shown in Cura on the left. Infill density is set to 50% with a rectilinear infill pattern. Isometric view of printed object on the right.

Figure 4. Custom slicer approach.

Preview of generated G-code loaded in Cura on the left (G-code data import only for visualization). Printed result with bimodal sinusoidal pattern on the right.