Workpiece and Machine Design in Additive Manufacturing for Multi-Axis Fused Deposition Modeling

Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies require innovative design paradigms and guidelines that exhaust the offered freedoms in geometry and material. The aim of the Design for Additive Manufacturing is to provide design opportunities and to enhance workpiece properties taking into account constraints of the process, e.g. kinematics and limitations of print technology. Most AM applications are constrained to three-axis movements limiting the fabrication of workpieces layer by layer to one fixed building direction only. This causes limitations of strength properties, surface quality and the need of supporting structures. Multi-axis AM enables completely new design possibilities going beyond current optimization and design strategies of conventional AM workpieces. This innovation requires multiple design and manufacturing changes in the internal and external geometry of the workpiece as well as in machine and printing head technology. This paper identifies the requirements and capabilities of multi-axis AM and presents possible solutions to overcome the identified challenges. Preliminary results for multi-axis AM are described on an exemplary workpiece.