A toolpath-based layer construction method for designing & printing porous structure

Current porous structure design methods in additive manufacturing (AM) lose accuracy in data model transformations along the processing chain and are difficult to consider manufacturability and post-processing issues. In addition, the design and printing preparation is costly due to large number of fine features and their related operations. To solve these problems with an aim to save time in design and printing preparation but ensure manufacturability and easy post-processing, this paper proposes an implicit design method using printing toolpaths to construct printable parametric porous structures. Experimental case studies demonstrated the feasibility, efficiency and application potential of the proposed method.