Design and Manufacturing Strategies for Fused Deposition Modelling in Additive Manufacturing: A Review

Abstract

Although several research works in the literature have focused on studying the capabilities of additive manufacturing (AM) systems, few works have addressed the development of Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) knowledge, tools, rules, and methodologies, which has limited the penetration and impact of AM in industry. In this paper a comprehensive review of design and manufacturing strategies for Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) is presented. Consequently, several DfAM strategies are proposed and analysed based on existing research works and the operation principles, materials, capabilities and limitations of the FDM process. These strategies have been divided into four main groups: geometry, quality, materials and sustainability. The implementation and practicality of the proposed DfAM is illustrated by three case studies. The new proposed DfAM strategies are intended to assist designers and manufacturers when making decisions to satisfy functional needs, while ensuring manufacturability in FDM systems. Moreover, many of these strategies can be applied or extended to other AM processes besides FDM.