Part deposition orientation studies in layered manufacturing

Part deposition orientation is very important factor of layered manufacturing as it effects build time, support structure, dimensional accuracy, surface finish and cost of the prototype. A number of layered manufacturing process specific parameters and constraints have to be considered while deciding the part deposition orientation. Determination of an optimal part deposition orientation is a difficult and time, consuming task as one has to trade-off among various contradicting objectives like part surface finish and build time. This paper describes and compares various attempts made to determine part deposition orientation. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.