2026/09/04
Polymer repair through reverse engineering and material extrusion: a circular manufacturing approach
Chandra Shekar, A.; Todescato, M.; Leclair, J.P.; Zitoune, R.; Hof, L.A. (2026). Polymer repair through reverse engineering and material extrusion: a circular manufacturing approach. Transactions of the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering, 2026, vol. 50.
This study on reverse engineering (RE) and material extrusion (MEX)-based additive manufacturing presents a precise and repeatable approach for part restoration through repair. A hemispherical additively fabricated dome-shaped geometry was damaged via computer numerical control machining and subsequently digitized using 3D scanning. A reverse engineered repair patch was modeled based on the scanned data and fabricated using MEX process. The patch was adhesively bonded to the parent structure. Metrological deviation analysis confirmed sub-micrometer reconstruction accuracy, with over 94% of the scanned data within ±1σ. The adhesively bonded patch showed excellent surface conformance. The findings demonstrate the feasibility of RE-based additive repair, eliminating the need for full part replacement and thereby supports circular economic practices.