Computer‐aided build style decision support for stereolithography

When building parts in a stereolithography apparatus (SLA), the user is faced with many decisions regarding how the part will be built. The quality of the build can be controlled by the user by changing one of several build style variables, including part orientation, cross sectional layer thickness, and laser hatch density. A user will probably have preferences for the part build (i.e. accuracy or speed), but may not understand how to vary the build style variables to produce the desired results. A method based on response surface methodology and multiobjective decision support is described in this paper for relating build goals to the build style variables to provide support for making build style decisions. The method is applied to the build style of a circuit breaker handle. Results indicate the method’s usefulness in supporting build style decisions. Expected behaviors of the goals with respect to the variables were confirmed and quantified. Additionally, response surface methodology was shown to be accurate and effective in modeling the relationships among variables and goals.