Shape recovery analysis of the additive manufactured 3D smart surfaces through reverse engineering

Novel methodology to estimate the shape memory behavior of smart structure fabricated by additive manufacturing is presented by merging 3D laser scanning and reverse engineering (RE). The specimens made from a temperature-stimulated smart material-PLA, is printed by fused deposition modelling (FDM), which adds the functionality of shape memory with additive manufacturing. Initially, to verify the estimation of shape memory behavior, standard rectangular samples are designed, printed, scanned and regenerated by RE. The results of the shape memory analyses are in close agreement with the previous works, which validate the methodology to be adopted from more complex geometries. Subsequently, the procedure is employed to the three-dimensional paraboloid surface for the development of surfaces during the different phases of the cycle. Successful rapid restoration of all the surfaces has been achieved with the accurate measurements which could be a time-consuming process using the conventional measurement techniques or involve high sophistication methodology. The shape recovery and shape fixity of the paraboloid surfaces are in congruence with the values calculated for the standard samples. RE models are also used to estimate the effect of stresses applied during the programming stage and subsequent release of internal stresses in the recovery stage above the glass transition temperature of PLA.