OPTIMIZATION OF PARAMETERS IN ROBOTIC ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING OF THIN-WALLED TUBES: EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS AND PATH PLANNING

Robotic Additive Manufacturing (RAM) represents an innovative approach to 3D printing, utilizing multi-axis industrial robots to execute complex printing tasks. This study focuses on path planning and the investigation of key parameters affecting the print quality of thin-walled tubes printed using a planar method. The experiments analyzed the effects of cooling, robot movement speed, material feed rate, and the number of perimeter layers on print quality. The results indicate that the combination of these parameters influences the quality and overall success of the printing process. Path generation was based on G-code created in open-source slicers, which was adapted for the ABB IRB 120 industrial robot. Future research will focus on expanding the study to the printing of non-planar curved tubes.