Additive manufacturing (AM) is an advanced manufacturing technology based on the principle of“ discrete stacking”

which drives the additive equipment to realize rapid manufacturing of parts through data pre-processing

slicing and path planning of the three-dimensional digital model

and generating the recognizable execution code of the additive system. AM has been widely used in aerospace

automobile

shipbuilding

medical

construction and other industries in recent years. Slicing and path planning are the core steps of data processing for 3D digital model of additive manufacturing

which determines the process variables

part shape accuracy and performance of the manufacturing process. Firstly

the research progress of slicing method based on various digital models such as CAD model

point cloud model

STL model

voxel model

etc. in additive manufacturing is reviewed

and comments were made on the generation accuracy of each model

the principle of slicing algorithm

and algorithm efficiency; Secondly

various slicing algorithms such as equal thickness

variable thickness

variable direction

and partition combinations for planar and nonplanar surfaces

as well as various path planning algorithms for planar single region

multi region

local features

and nonplanar surfaces are reviewed. The design points of slicing and path planning algorithms are analyzed and sorted out preliminary; Finally

the current research status of planar and nonplanar slicing and path planning in additive manufacturing digital models is summarized

and its development trends are prospected.