A methodology for the estimation of build time for operation sequencing in process planning for a hybrid process

The on-going industrial trend toward production of highly complex and accurate part geometries with reduced costs has led to the emergence of hybrid manufacturing processes where varied manufacturing operations are carried out in either parallel or serial manner. One such hybrid process being currently developed is the iAtractive process, which combines additive, subtractive, and inspection processes. The enabler for realizing the hybrid process production is the process planning algorithm. The production time estimation for the additive process, namely build time, is one of the key drivers for the major elements in the algorithm. This paper describes a method for predicting build times for operation sequencing for process planning of the iAtractive process. An analytical model is first proposed, theoretically analyzing the factors that affect build times, which is used to help with the design of four test parts together with 64 sets of variations. The experimental results indicate that part volume, and interactions of volume and porosity, height and intermittent factor have significant effect on build times. Finally, the build time estimation model has been developed, which were subsequently evaluated and validated by applying a wide range of the identified influential factors.