Global Continuous Toolpath Planning with Controllable Local Directions

Toolpath planning for Continuous fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites (CFRTPCs) 3D printing is a challenging task, which is vital to decrease the process complexity. In this paper, we propose a global continuous path planning method for CFRTPCs. First, for the set of 2D connected regions generated by slicing, we establish an optimized print sequence with a minimum idle stroke under interference constraints. Second, a continuous Zigzag path generation algorithm with controlled deposition direction is constructed for each 2D connected region, and path optimization is used to lessen the uneven deposition spacing. Finally, A separation axis theorem is used to prevent interference during the printing process, and we use a genetic algorithm to choose the connection points between 2D paths in a given spatial printing sequence to make the minimum idle stroke, creating a global continuous path with controllable deposition direction. The method proposed in this paper can provide the ability to customize the local deposition path direction and ensure the continuity of the global path to avoid interference and reduce the post-processing workload, so it is suitable for continuous path planning and multi-physics field optimization of complex structures, which can fully utilize the advantages of high-performance fibers to improve the customization ability and the performance of the fabricated parts for 3D printing and provide support for the manufacturing of high-performance structures in different fields. [Display omitted] •A new method is proposed to generate continuous paths with controlled direction.•We provide a method to reduce idle strokes when printing multi-branch structures at CFRTCs.•Optimization methods are provided to avoid interference when successive printing.