Part Separation Technique for Assembly-Based Design in Additive Manufacturing using Genetic Algorithm

Abstract

Additive manufacturing (AM) has the potential to improve productivity especially processing time, cost and surface roughness. In similar lines, part separation for assembly-based design in additive manufacturing can help in improving productivity. This paper discusses an optimization technique for part separation in assembly based part design in additive manufacturing. The technique improves the productivity by decreasing the processing time of printed parts, which is the sum of the build time and the assembly time. The technique uses optimal cutting planes for part separation that has distinct advantages compared to random cutting planes. The work discusses a Genetic Algorithm (GA) technique for part separation using planar cuts. The optimization technique provides the optimal number of parts for assembly and their corresponding build orientations for the minimum processing time. Three examples have been provided to demonstrate the application of the proposed method. Finally, the results from two examples are compared to the already established hill climbing optimization method for part separation.