Iranian Journal of Manufacturing Engineering

Iranian Journal of Manufacturing Engineering

3D printing of voxel-based structures by direct creation of STL file format

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Ali Ehsani Nezhad 1
Ali Hasanabadi 2
Mojtaba Sheikhi Azqandi 3
1 MSc Student, Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Birjand, Birjand, Iran
2 Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Birjand, Birjand, Iran
3 Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Birjand, Birjand, Iran
10.22034/ijme.2024.457932.1960
Abstract
Voxel-based structures are composed of tiny cubic building blocks called voxels. These structures have found widespread applications in volumetric visualization of medical images and computer graphics. In voxel-based structures, connectivity plays a crucial role, influencing almost all properties of the structure. Moreover, connectivity is essential for the manufacturability of voxel-based structures using 3D printing techniques. Due to their inherent complexity, traditional fabrication methods are not suitable for constructing these structures. In this research, two-dimensional images are used to create a voxel-based three-dimensional structure, and considering that a real physical object must be a connected region, an efficient algorithm for identifying connected regions called clusters is presented. For the 3D printing of the object, which will actually be the largest cluster, a file that can be read by the slicer software of the 3D printing machine is needed. The STL file format is the most common format in this domain. Therefore, an algorithm was proposed to directly generate the STL file of the structure, and the STL file was produced. ASCII encoding was employed for file generation. The STL file generated by the algorithm was printed using the fused deposition modeling method.
Keywords
3D Printing
Voxel-Based Structures
STL File Format Creation
Structure Continuity
[1] Roppolo I, Caprioli M, Pirri CF, Magdassi S. 3D Printing of Self‐Healing Materials. Advanced Materials. 2024 Mar;36(9):2305537. doi: 10.1002/adma.202305537
[2] Abidaryan S, Barmouz M, Hedayati SK. Effect of infill percentage and raster angle in fused deposition modeling (FDM) process on shape memory properties of poly (lactic acid) and comparison with compression molding. Iranian Journal of Manufacturing Engineering. 2020 Jul 22;7(5):14-23. [In Persian]
[3] Karakurt I, Lin L. 3D printing technologies: techniques, materials, and post-processing. Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering. 2020 Jun 1;28:134-43. doi: 10.1016/j.coche.2020.04.001
[4] Gholizadeh Roshan A, Zolfaghari A, Shakeri M. Investigation of physical and mechanical properties of 3D printed parts by using of ABS plastic filaments filled by alumina. Iranian Journal of Manufacturing Engineering. 2020 Jun 21;7(4):1-9. [In Persian]
[5] Saraeian P, Shakouri E. Study on the effect of thickness of layers, temperature and speed of nozzle on circularity error and surface roughness of holes in parts produced during fused deposition modeling. Iranian Journal of Manufacturing Engineering. 2020 Sep 22;7(7):38-50. [In Persian]
[6] Bougdid Y, Sekkat Z. Voxels optimization in 3D laser nanoprinting. Scientific Reports. 2020 Jun 26;10(1):10409. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-67184-2
[7] Zohdi TI. Rapid voxel-based digital-computation for complex microstructured media. Archives of Computational Methods in Engineering. 2019 Nov;26(5):1379-94. doi: 10.1007/s11831-018-9284-1
[8] Duran AH, Duran MN, Masood I, Maciolek LM, Hussain H. The additional diagnostic value of the three-dimensional volume rendering imaging in routine radiology practice. Cureus. 2019 Sep;11(9). doi: 10.7759%2Fcureus.5579
[9] Bader C, Kolb D, Weaver JC, Sharma S, Hosny A, Costa J, Oxman N. Making data matter: Voxel printing for the digital fabrication of data across scales and domains. Science advances. 2018 May 30;4(5):eaas8652. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aas8652
[10] Ghadai S, Jignasu A, Krishnamurthy A. Direct 3D printing of multi-level voxel models. Additive Manufacturing. 2021 Apr 1;40:101929. doi: 10.1016/j.addma.2021.101929
[11] Xu Y, Tong X, Stilla U. Voxel-based representation of 3D point clouds: Methods, applications, and its potential use in the construction industry. Automation in Construction. 2021 Jun 1;126:103675. doi: 10.1016/j.autcon.2021.103675
[12] Chenyan L, Shikai J. Multi-attribute voxelization technology of AMF for 3D printing. In2019 IEEE 6th International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Applications (ICIEA) 2019 Apr 12 (pp. 81-85). IEEE. doi: 10.1109/IEA.2019.8714990
[13] Wang CS, Wang WH, Lin MC. STL rapid prototyping bio-CAD model for CT medical image segmentation. Computers in Industry. 2010 Apr 1;61(3):187-97. doi: 10.1016/j.compind.2009.09.005
[14] Yin ZW. Direct generation of extended STL file from unorganized point data. Computer-Aided Design. 2011 Jun 1;43(6):699-706. doi: 10.1016/j.cad.2011.02.010
[15] Hiller J, Lipson H. Design and analysis of digital materials for physical 3D voxel printing. Rapid Prototyping Journal. 2009 Mar 27;15(2):137-49. doi: 10.1108/13552540910943441
[16] Aremu AO, Brennan-Craddock JP, Panesar A, Ashcroft IA, Hague RJ, Wildman RD, Tuck C. A voxel-based method of constructing and skinning conformal and functionally graded lattice structures suitable for additive manufacturing. Additive Manufacturing. 2017 Jan 1;13:1-3. doi: 10.1016/j.addma.2016.10.006
[17] Lv C, Lin W, Zhao B. Voxel structure-based mesh reconstruction from a 3D point cloud. IEEE Transactions on Multimedia. 2021 Apr 16;24:1815-29. doi: 10.1109/TMM.2021.3073265
[18] Kaufman A, Cohen D, Yagel R. Volume graphics. Computer. 1993 Jul;26(7):51-64. doi: 10.1109/MC.1993.274942
[19] Leary M, Mazur M, Watson M, Boileau E, Brandt M. Voxel-based support structures for additive manufacture of topologically optimal geometries. The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology. 2019 Nov;105:1-26. doi: 10.1007/s00170-019-03964-z
[20] Aleksandrov M, Zlatanova S, Heslop DJ. Voxelisation algorithms and data structures: a review. Sensors. 2021 Dec 9;21(24):8241. doi: 10.3390/s21248241
[21] Patil S, Ravi B. Voxel-based representation, display and thickness analysis of intricate shapes. InNinth International Conference on Computer Aided Design and Computer Graphics (CAD-CG'05) 2005 Dec 7 (pp. 6-pp). IEEE. doi: 10.1109/CAD-CG.2005.86
[22] Wu X, Liu W, Wang T. Voxel-based model and its application in advanced manufacturing. InFourth International Conference on Virtual Reality and Its Applications in Industry 2004 Mar 19 (Vol. 5444, pp. 383-388). SPIE. doi: 10.1117/12.561181
[23] Torquato S, Stell G. Microstructure of two‐phase random media. I. The n‐point probability functions. The Journal of Chemical Physics. 1982 Aug 15;77(4):2071-7. doi: 10.1063/1.444011
[24] Yeong CL, Torquato S. Reconstructing random media. Physical review E. 1998 Jan 1;57(1):495. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.57.495
[25] Jiao Y, Stillinger FH, Torquato SA. A superior descriptor of random textures and its predictive capacity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2009 Oct 20;106(42):17634-9. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0905919106
[26] Gonzalez RC. Digital image processing. Pearson education india; 2009.
[27] Hasanabadi A, Baniassadi M, Abrinia K, Safdari M, Garmestani H. 3D microstructural reconstruction of heterogeneous materials from 2D cross sections: A modified phase-recovery algorithm. Computational Materials Science. 2016 Jan 1;111:107-15. doi: 10.1016/j.commatsci.2015.09.015
[28] Hoshen J, Kopelman R. Percolation and cluster distribution. I. Cluster multiple labeling technique and critical concentration algorithm. Physical Review B. 1976 Oct 15;14(8):3438. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevB.14.3438
[29] Hasanabadi A. Development of an algorithm for identifying active clusters in the microstructural design of materials.  10th International Conference on Materials Science & Metallurgical Engineering; 2021 Nov 16-17; Tehran, Iran.
[30] Sun X, Ni Y, Liu C, Wang Z, Yin Y. A practical method for stability assessment of a damaged ship. Ocean Engineering. 2021 Feb 15;222:108594. doi: 10.1016/j.oceaneng.2021.108594
[31] Kamio T, Suzuki M, Asaumi R, Kawai T. DICOM segmentation and STL creation for 3D printing: a process and software package comparison for osseous anatomy. 3D printing in medicine. 2020 Dec;6:1-2. doi: 10.1186/s41205-020-00069-2
[32] Gao S, Wu R, Wang X, Wang J, Li Q, Wang C, Tang X. A 3D model encryption scheme based on a cascaded chaotic system. Signal Processing. 2023 Jan 1;202:108745. doi: 10.1016/j.sigpro.2022.108745
[33] Zhang Y, Shi X. Research on the three-dimensional displaying of STL ASCII and binary file. Advanced Materials Research. 2014 Jul 16;940:433-6. doi: 10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.940.433
[34] Wu T, Cheung EH. Enhanced stl. The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology. 2006 Aug;29:1143-50.doi: 10.1007/s00170-005-0001-5