DESIGN OF 3D VIRTUAL AND ADDITIVE MANUFCTURED MODELS FOR CULTURAL HERITAGE

Abstract

It is well known that reverse engineering and additive manufacturing may be suitably integrated to develop different kinds of customized devices. Starting from image capture and analysis techniques, it is possible to manufacture an object or a functional part in a layer-by-layer fashion. Today many objects may be fabricated by additive manufacturing, benefiting from user-friendly computer programs and from the availability of open source 3-D printers. In the field of cultural heritage, there are many potential applications of the reverse engineering tools and methods, ranging from dissemination (e.g., virtual museums), reproduction (e.g., via additive manufacturing) and maintenance, to condition monitoring. Accordingly, in the proposed research 3D virtual and physical scale models of buildings and artworks were properly developed. 3D physical models were fabricated by fused deposition modeling (FDM), starting from the optimization of the process and instrument parameters. The processability of the materials (i.e., thermoplastic polymers) was assessed through functional and calorimetric analyses. Image capture and analysis techniques allowed to reproduce the geometry and morphology.