Optimum Part Deposition Orientation in Stereolithography

Abstract

In the present work an attempt has been made to achieve minimum average part surface roughness (best overall surface quality) for Stereolithography processed parts by determining optimum part deposition orientation. A conventional optimization algorithm based on Trust Region Method (available with MATLAB 6.5 optimization tool box) has been used to solve the optimization problem. It is observed that the problem is highly multi-modal in nature and a suitable initial guess, which is used, as an input to execute optimization module is important to achieve a global optimum. A simple methodology has been proposed to find out initial guess so that global minimum is obtained. Finally the surface roughness simulation is carried out with optimum part deposition orientation to have an idea of surface roughness variation over the entire part’s surface before depositing the part. Case studies are presented to demonstrate the capabilities of the developed system