Prediction of surface roughness in extrusion-based additive manufacturing with machine learning

Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, has been increasingly adopted in the aerospace, automotive, energy, and healthcare industries over the past few years. While AM has many advantages over subtractive manufacturing processes, one of the primary limitations of AM is surface integrity. To improve the surface integrity of additively manufactured parts, a data-driven predictive modeling approach to predicting surface roughness in AM is introduced. Multiple sensors of different types, including thermocouples, infrared temperature sensors, and accelerometers, are used to collect temperature and vibration data. An ensemble learning algorithm is introduced to train the predictive model of surface roughness. Features in the time and frequency domains are extracted from sensor-based condition monitoring data. A subset of these features is selected to improve computational efficiency and prediction accuracy. The predictive model is validated using the condition monitoring data collected from a set of AM tests conducted on a fused filament fabrication (FFF) machine. Experimental results have shown that the proposed predictive modeling approach is capable of predicting the surface roughness of 3D printed components with high accuracy.