A Semi-Analytic Approach for Direct Slicing Of Free Form Surfaces for Layered Manufacturing Abstract Purpose of this paper

Abstract

To develop an efficient Surface-Plane Intersection algorithm for direct slicing of free-form surfaces to be produced by layered manufacturing. Design/methodology/approach A semi-analytical method for direct slicing has been formulated and tested on Bezier and B-spline surfaces commonly used in CAD modeling. This method solves for the intersection points by a ‘root ’ finding procedure and establishes their connectivity, unlike the conventional ‘marching ’ procedures. Findings The proposed algorithm solves intersection contours between free form surfaces and planes. The solution procedure is efficient with respect to computational time (CPU time