Volume-Consistent Kneading-Based Deformation Manufacturing for Material-Efficient Shaping

TL;DR

This paper introduces a volume-consistent kneading-based deformation method for plastic manufacturing that enables continuous, controllable 3D shaping with high geometric fidelity and minimal material waste.

Contribution

It presents a novel kneading-based forming process with integrated closed-loop control, achieving high-precision, low-waste manufacturing of complex geometries.

Findings

Material utilization exceeds 98%

High geometric fidelity achieved in experiments

Effective compensation for geometric deviations

Abstract

Conventional subtractive manufacturing inevitably involves material loss during geometric realization, while additive manufacturing still suffers from limitations in surface quality, process continuity, and productivity when fabricating complex geometries. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a volume-consistent kneading-based forming method for plastic materials, enabling continuous and controllable three-dimensional deformation under mass conservation. An integrated kneading-based manufacturing system is developed, in which geometry-aware kneading command generation, layer-wise kneading execution, and in-process point-cloud scanning are tightly coupled to form a closed-loop workflow of scanning, forming, and feedback compensation. Target geometries are analyzed through layer-wise point-cloud processing and classified into enveloping and non-enveloping types. Accordingly, an Envelope Shaping First strategy and a Similar Gradient Method are adopted to ensure stable material flow and continuous deformation. An RMSE-based compensation scheme is further introduced to correct systematic geometric deviations induced by elastic rebound and material redistribution. Experimental validation on five representative geometries demonstrates high geometric fidelity, with material utilization consistently exceeding 98%. The results indicate that kneading-based forming provides a promising alternative manufacturing paradigm for low-waste, customizable production.