Throughput and Strength Optimization for Additive Manufactured Ankle Foot Orthotics
A wavy infill has been proposed as a way to reduce manufacturing time for thin-walled parts. Additionally, build parameters such as layer height and toolhead speed dominate the manufacturing time and printing quality. This study aims to optimize the manufacturing process of high-volume, thin-walled parts such as the ankle-foot orthotic (AFO). Two neural network models were developed to estimate the strength-to-weight ratio of coupons with a wavy infill and for various FDM build parameters. An optimization technique was used to optimize these models. The results indicated a reduction in the model objective function.
The future application from this research result is to embed the wavy structure in the 3D printing process of prosthetics sockets. In the socket research, an important aim is to incorporate robotic arm into the 3D printing process to realize multi-directional printing. In this study, RoboDK (http://www.robodk.com/) is chosen to conduct the simulation and offline programming of ABB robot in our lab.