Investigation of 3D Printed Lithophane Quality Improvement on A FDM Printer

In recent years, the process of creating lithophanes has involved the use of 3D printing technologies to produce transparent plates of varying thicknesses and when backlit, these lithophanes create images. The process includes building a 3D model of the lithophane with open-source 3D modeling software. Then, the print parameters are chosen, and white PLA filament is used for printing. This research investigates the optimization of 3D-printed lithophanes on Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM). Using Taguchi’s DOE approach, five key parameters such as brightness, contrast, maximum thickness, minimum thickness, and vector per pixel were chosen, and each was investigated at three distinct levels. A total of 27 samples were systematically designed and printed to examine the impact of these parameters on the quality of 3D-printed lithophanes. The Python script was used to analyze the experimental data and find the best set of parameters to enhance the lithophanes’ visual appeal. The results of this investigation provide significant contributions to the field of 3D printing, particularly with regard to the production of visually engaging and captivating lithophane prints through the use of FDM technology.