Voidless Contour-Parallel 3D Printing via Recursive Shape Segmentation and Adaptive Line Width

3D printing streamlines the fabrication of complex shapes and structures, rendering it an ideal choice for rapid prototyping and small-scale manufacturing. Material Extrusion, the dominant technique within 3D printing, constructs 3D ob-jects layer-by-layer through a mobile nozzle extruding molten material. The nozzle’s trajectory critically influences the object’s strength, durability, and aesthetics. Employing contour-parallel paths with high-density infill generally enhances mechanical properties crucial for high-performance applications. However, designing paths that meet these specifications is challenging. Recent methods explore adjusting line width but often demand impractical line width ranges or frequent changes in deposition rate, reducing output quality. This paper presents an algorithm that generates contour-parallel print paths with adaptive line width, enabling voidless filling of complex shapes. By recursively segmenting a shape, our algorithm efficiently covers the area with minimal under- and overfill and fewer width variations compared to existing solutions. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is statistically assessed and the results are compared against other state-of-the-art approaches.