Analysis and modeling of defects in unsupported overhanging features in micro-stereolithography.

In the present paper, a numerical approach to model the layer-by-layer construction of cured material during the Additive Manufacturing (AM) process is proposed. The method is developed by a recursive mechanical finite element (FE) analysis and takes into account forces and pressures acting on the cured material during the process, in order to simulate the behavior and investigate the failure condition sources, which lead to defects in the final part geometry. The study is focused on the evaluation of the process capability Stereolithography (SLA), to build parts with challenging features in meso-micro scale without supports. Two test cases, a cantilever part and a bridge shape component, have been considered in order to evaluate the potentiality of the approach. Numerical models have been tuned by experimental test. The simulations are validated considering two test cases and briefly compared to the printed samples. Results show the potential of the approach adopted but also the difficulties on simulation settings.