Parametric design for 3D printed plastic panel as a decorative part of a mobility platform

Abstract

Additive manufacturing (AM) provides great new possibilities concerning designing. AM turns to free-form designs with reduced weight, which are individually customized. Taking advantage of these aspects, the manufacturing world is led to a still not fully discovered, continuously expanding, era. This study includes a thorough look of a designing process for AM; starting from a theoretical design and its parameters to a more efficient CAD model, intended to be used for the final product. The main goal of this, process-planning driven, project has been the construction of a plastic panel as a decorative part of a mobility platform with the minimum use of support structure. Manufacturability analysis, that followed the CAD modeling process, required the definition of the most influential parameters, such as infill percentage, material and built orientation. The constant re-definition of the parameters, in order to minimize the necessity of a support structure, completed the final CAD model. The results of this procedure form a concise list of the challenges, one faces during the designing for an AM product, but also fulfills the requirements for a fully functional panel used as a vehicle part.