3D Printing of Components with Tailored Properties Through Hilbert Curve Filling of a Discretized Domain

Owing to the localized line-by-line and layer-by-layer style of material deposition, 3D printing remains an ideal candidate for fabrication of components with tailored properties (also referred to as functionally gradient components). The present work tries to exploit this advantage, in the extrusion-based 3D printing process, to fabricate components with varying set of properties at different locations. The implementation is done using Hilbert area-filling curves with the displacement per unit force (i.e., compliance) applied being the property varying in a gradient manner. Four input parameters have been considered to study their effect on the compliance, and the single most influencing parameter has been selected using analysis of variance (ANOVA) for further study. Mapping of a selected input variable on the desired property has been discussed through numerical and experimental tests. Based on these studies, a demonstrative case study of a shoe sole has been designed and fabricated. Deflections of the fabricated component have been measured at different locations for uniform loading conditions. The deflection behavior of the fabricated component is found to be in line with the gradient force response required, thus validating the proposed approach. The current study is intended to provide the basic framework for fabrication of components tailored for force response using Hilbert curves.