Stuart-Smith, Robert; Wu, Renhu; Wang, Sizhe; (2025) Compound Robotic Approaches to Contactless Incremental Thermoforming and FGF Additive Manufacturing. In: Ciblac, Thierry and Hussein Abouelkheir, Ahmed, (eds.) Proceedings of the AIARP 2024 International Conference. (pp. pp. 7-21). Hal Open Science

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Abstract

Thermoplastic surface cladding panels are widely used in building construction for exterior envelopes and interior walls and ceilings due to their transparency and ease of forming into diverse shapes only millimetres in thickness. Their ability to span and hold shape is achieved through profiling and internal support structures – possibilities closely tied to manufacturing methods such as die-cast extrusion, injection molding and vacuum forming that use a mold or die that involves time and material costs. Due to this, such methods are typically employed for the mass production of identical parts. Designs that involve geometric variation across multiple assembled thermoplastic panels are challenging to realize within competitive time and cost constraints. While robotic methods like incremental forming can variably shape thermoplastic sheets and Fused Granulate Additive Manufacturing (FGF-AM) supports the fabrication of variable volumetric parts, neither approach can replicate the benefits of traditional methods in rapidly producing thin-shell panels with integrated internal ribbing or lattice structures. This research introduces a custom robotic manufacturing process for thermoplastic surface panels, that combines a Contactless Incremental Thermoforming (CIT) method with FGF-AM to produce variably curved surfaces with integrated ridging and interior support structures. Conformal FGF-AM is investigated as a means to both augment the CIT process, and to create three-dimensional spatial lattices bonded with formed PETG sheets. CIT and its combined use with FGF-AM is demonstrated to produce geometrically variable parts without the use of molds. A series of parts are manufactured to evaluate the formative capabilities of the approach, the capacity to enhance a PETG sheet’s structural stiffness, and correlated aesthetic possibilities.

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