Abstract
The paper presents the application of 3D printing in the forensic field in order to perform facial reconstruction on a 3D printed replica of the victim’s skull. Firstly, imagine data from a computed tomography of a skull was converted into a 3D model. Then, the 3D skull model was sliced and printed in different positions in order to optimize the 3D printing configuration. Since the quality of the 3D printing process depends on the thermal and rheological properties of the 3D printing filaments, the rheological behavior of the ABS was investigated using melt flow rate and capillary rheometry. Lastly, an accurate skull replica was achieved using the optimal printing parameters. The 3D printed skull was used to perform the facial reconstruction of the victim by the forensic team. Based on the results of the present research, the 3D printing technology is a feasible solution to obtain anatomically accurate skull replicas.
Keywords: 3D printing; slicing optimization; facial reconstruction; ABS; melt flow rate; shear viscosity