Efficient three dimensional modelling of additive manufactured textiles

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate, develop and validate a three-dimensional modelling strategy for the efficient generation of conformal textile data suitable for additive manufacture.Design methodology approach - A series of additive manufactured (AM) textiles samples were modelled using currently available computer-aided design software to understand the limitations associated with the generation of conformal data. Results of the initial three-dimensional modelling processes informed the exploration and development of a new dedicated efficient modelling strategy that was tested to understand its capabilities.Findings - The research demonstrates the dramatically improved capabilities of the developed three-dimensional modelling strategy, over existing approaches by accurately mapping complex geometries described as STL data to a mapping mesh without distortion and correctly matching the orientation and surface normal.Originality value - To date the generation of data for AM textiles has been seen as a manual and time-consuming process. The research presents a new dedicated methodology for the efficient generation of complex and conformal AM textile data that will underpin further research in this area.