Curved Surface Deposition in Additive Manufacturing for Cloth Products Using Composite Material with Continuous Fiber

Abstract

Our laboratory has developed an FFF AM system that can use any continuous fibers including cotton, silk, and hemp, or other yarns for fabrication without cutting them. This method provides not only to strengthen the tensile strength of the formed objects but also to realize an esthetical textile design. In this study, a new curved surface deposition method of continuous fiber composite was proposed and a deposition path generation algorithm using the method was realized. Fabrication experiments of the proposed method were conducted by using a 6-axis vertically articulated robot with an FFF extruder. Composite materials with hemp yarn were used for creating cloth products. The fabricated objects were evaluated through accuracy tests. Through this study, we have successfully demonstrated the curved surface deposition using materials with continuous fibers.