Improving dimensional and surface quality of additive manufactured parts

In modern manufacturing of polymer components the injection moulding representsthe conventional way to get the desired shape respecting dimensional and surface requirements.But, such process plan requires the design of the tools and that of whole manufacturing process.A different choice could be done when the production consists of small batches or a single unit.In this case it is useful to realize the workpiece without tools taking into consideration theadditive manufacturing technique. The limit of such flexible manufacturing technology isrepresented sometimes, in particular in working polymers such as ABS, by the difficulty torespect dimensional and surface requirements. The research activity to be presented involved therealization of cubic geometries in ABS by FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling). The staircase,the waviness and roughness of the surfaces were evaluated and quantified. The slight machiningphase performed by front milling considered in the process plan allowed to reduce the staircaseeffect up to about zero and to reduce the waviness of about some decimals of millimeter to somehundredth of millimeter. The surface roughness was also improved. The methodology and thedetails are reported.