Sharp Corner Detection Tool
Sharp Corner Detection Tool is used to detect and highlight sharp corners in the geometry that are difficult to manufacture in powder bed AM process. Sharp corners are tips within each layer where the angle of the tip is less than threshold value of the AM machine. If the angle is too small, these sharp corners in the geometry may be difficult to manufacture during the laser sintering process. This tool can rotate a part and highlights critical sharp corners in the geometry and calculate the number of the sharp corners in each layer.
Figure 1 Custom GUI and result output for sharp corner detection in Siemens NX Modeling
Instructions
Figure 2 Sharp Corner GUI
The Sharp Corner Detection GUI is shown in the figure below. The detailed explanation of each option in the GUI is given below.
a) Select Body
This option is used to select the body for which sharp corners are detected and highlighted.
b) Rotation along X axis
Rotation along X axis (value to be entered in degrees) will rotate the selected part along the X axis.
c) Rotation along Y axis
Rotation along Y axis (value to be entered in degrees) will rotate the selected part along the Y axis
d) Threshold Angle
The threshold angle of the feature that is identified as a sharp corner is entered here. (unit in mm).
e) Slice Thickness
Slice thickness is the distance between two adjacent slicing layers (unit in mm). As slice thickness decreases, the analysis is more accurate. However, decreased slice thickness will increase the processing time of the tool.
The output window of the Sharp Corner Detection Tool is shown below. The result shows the total number of sharp corners detected for the user-input configurations
Figure 3 Sharp Corner Output Window
Please watch the video tutorial of the module for an example part included with the zip file of the module.
Example Problem
Use the Parasolid File named SharpCornerDetection_egPart_2.x_t in the Example Parts folder attached in the Sharp Corner Detection Tool module folder that you have extracted from the website.
Open the example part, try the following input configurations and note the changes in sharp corners.
a. Input Threshold Angle as 20, Slice Thickness as 1 (mm), analyze the sharp corners, if any, of the given part.
b. Increase the Threshold Angle to 30 analyze the sharp corners.
c. Reduce the Slice Thickness to 0.1 (mm), analyze the sharp corners.
d. Rotate the part along Y axis by 90 degree. Set the Threshold Angle as 30 and Slice Thickness as 1 (mm) and analyze the sharp corners.