Issues in Process Planning for Laser Chemical Vapor Deposition

Laser Chemical Vapor Deposition (LCVD) is a promising rapid prototyping and manufacturing process that deposits metals and ceramics by local heating of a substrate with a laser. Even though many LCVD process planning characteristics are shared with those of more common Solid Freeform Fabrication (SFF) technologies, LCVD process planning requires new efforts due to its unique characteristics. Unlike a conventional Layered Manufacturing (LM) technology that only builds a planar layer, LCVD can build conformal layers (conform to nonplanar substrates), thin walls, and fibers (rod-shape). This paper explores process planning issues for LCVD in the context of its unique characteristics.