scholarly journals Fused filament fabrication of commercial conductive filaments: experimental study on the process parameters aimed at the minimization, repeatability and thermal characterization of electrical resistance

2020 ◽  
Vol 111 (9-10) ◽  
pp. 2971-2986 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianni Stano ◽  
Attilio Di Nisio ◽  
Anna Maria Lanzolla ◽  
Mattia Ragolia ◽  
Gianluca Percoco

Abstract Nowadays, a challenging scenario involving additive manufacturing (AM), or 3D printing, relates to concerns on the manufacturing of electronic devices. In particular, the possibility of using fused filament fabrication (FFF) technology, which is well known for being very widespread and inexpensive, to fabricate structures with embedded sensing elements, is really appealing. Several researchers in this field have highlighted the high electrical resistance values and variability in 3D-printed strain sensors made via FFF. It is important to find a way to minimize the electrical resistance and variability among strain sensors printed under the same conditions for several reasons, such as reducing the measurement noise and better balancing four 3D-printed strain gauges connected to form a Wheatstone bridge to obtain better measurements. In this study, a design of experiment (DoE) on 3D-printed strain gauges, studying the relevance of printing and design parameters, was performed. Three different commercial conductive materials were analyzed, including a total of 105 printed samples. The output of this study is a combination of parameters which allow both the electrical resistance and variability to be minimized; in particular, it was discovered that the “welding effect” due to the layer height and printing orientation is responsible for high values of resistance and variability. After the optimization of printing and design parameters, further experiments were performed to characterize the sensitivity of each specimen to mechanical and thermal stresses, highlighting an interesting aspect. A sensible variation of the electrical resistance at room temperature was observed, even if no stress was applied to the specimen, suggesting the potential of exploiting these materials for the 3D printing of highly sensitive temperature sensors.

Proceedings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 125
Author(s):  
Martino Colonna ◽  
Benno Zingerle ◽  
Maria Federica Parisi ◽  
Claudio Gioia ◽  
Alessandro Speranzoni ◽  
...  

The optimization of sport equipment parts requires considerable time and high costs due to the high complexity of the development process. For this reason, we have developed a novel approach to decrease the cost and time for the optimization of the design, which consists of producing a first prototype by 3D printing, applying the forces that normally acts during the sport activity using a test bench, and then measuring the local deformations using 3D digital image correlation (DIC). The design parameters are then modified by topological optimization and then DIC is performed again on the new 3D-printed modified part. The DIC analysis of 3D-printed parts has shown a good agreement with that of the injection-molded ones. The deformation measured with DIC are also well correlated with those provided by finite element method (FEM) analysis, and therefore DIC analysis proves to be a powerful tool to validate FEM models.


Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 545
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Rodzeń ◽  
Preetam K. Sharma ◽  
Alistair McIlhagger ◽  
Mozaffar Mokhtari ◽  
Foram Dave ◽  
...  

The manufacture of polyetheretherketone/hydroxyapatite (PEEK/HA) composites is seen as a viable approach to help enhance direct bone apposition in orthopaedic implants. A range of methods have been used to produce composites, including Selective Laser Sintering and injection moulding. Such techniques have drawbacks and lack flexibility to manufacture complex, custom-designed implants. 3D printing gets around many of the restraints and provides new opportunities for innovative solutions that are structurally suited to meet the needs of the patient. This work reports the direct 3D printing of extruded PEEK/HA composite filaments via a Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) approach. In this work samples are 3D printed by a custom modified commercial printer Ultimaker 2+ (UM2+). SEM-EDX and µCT analyses show that HA particles are evenly distributed throughout the bulk and across the surface of the native 3D printed samples, with XRD highlighting up to 50% crystallinity and crystalline domains clearly observed in SEM and HR-TEM analyses. This highlights the favourable temperature conditions during 3D printing. The yield stress and ultimate tensile strength obtained for all the samples are comparable to human femoral cortical bone. The results show how FFF 3D printing of PEEK/HA composites up to 30 wt% HA can be achieved.


Lab on a Chip ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liang Wu ◽  
Stephen Beirne ◽  
Joan-Marc Cabot Canyelles ◽  
Brett Paull ◽  
Gordon G. Wallace ◽  
...  

Additive manufacturing (3D printing) offers a flexible approach for the production of bespoke microfluidic structures such as the electroosmotic pump. Here a readily accessible fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printing...


2021 ◽  
Vol 1023 ◽  
pp. 75-81
Author(s):  
Aappo Mustakangas ◽  
Atef Hamada ◽  
Antti Järvenpää

Cost-efficient 3D-printing can create a lot of new opportunities in engineering as it enables rapid prototyping of models and functional parts. In the present study, Polylactic acid (PLA) cubic specimens with different types of infill patterns (IPs), rectilinear, grid and cuboid, were additively manufactured by Fused Filament Fabrication 3D-printing. The PLA cubes are fabricated with one perimeter and different IPs density (10, 20, and 30%). Subsequently, the compressive strengths of the PLA materials were measured in two loading directions, i.e., the layers building direction is parallel (PD) to the loading axis and perpendicular (ND) to the loading direction. An optical microscope was used to examine the deformed IPs in both loading directions. The compressive flow stress curves of the PLA cubes infilled with rectilinear and grid patterns exhibited strong fluctuations with lower compressive strengths in the loading direction along ND. The PLA with 30% grid IP revealed a superior strength of ~12 kN in the loading direction along PD. On the contrary, the same material exhibited a worst compressive strength 3 kN along ND.


Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (18) ◽  
pp. 3117
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Rodzeń ◽  
Mary Josephine McIvor ◽  
Preetam K. Sharma ◽  
Jonathan G. Acheson ◽  
Alistair McIlhagger ◽  
...  

Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) is a high-performance thermoplastic polymer which has found increasing application in orthopaedics and has shown a lot of promise for ‘made-to-measure’ implants via additive manufacturing approaches. However, PEEK is bioinert and needs to undergo surface modification to make it at least osteoconductive to ensure a more rapid, improved, and stable fixation that will last longer in vivo. One approach to solving this issue is to modify PEEK with bioactive agents such as hydroxyapatite (HA). The work reported in this study demonstrates the direct 3D printing of PEEK/HA composites of up to 30 weight percent (wt%) HA using a Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) approach. The surface characteristics and in vitro properties of the composite materials were investigated. X-ray diffraction revealed the samples to be semi-crystalline in nature, with X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy and Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry revealing HA materials were available in the uppermost surface of all the 3D printed samples. In vitro testing of the samples at 7 days demonstrated that the PEEK/HA composite surfaces supported the adherence and growth of viable U-2 OS osteoblast like cells. These results demonstrate that FFF can deliver bioactive HA on the surface of PEEK bio-composites in a one-step 3D printing process.


Materials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 3364
Author(s):  
Bahaa Shaqour ◽  
Inés Reigada ◽  
Żaneta Górecka ◽  
Emilia Choińska ◽  
Bart Verleije ◽  
...  

Additive manufacturing technologies have been widely used in the medical field. More specifically, fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D-printing technology has been thoroughly investigated to produce drug delivery systems. Recently, few researchers have explored the possibility of directly 3D printing such systems without the need for producing a filament which is usually the feedstock material for the printer. This was possible via direct feeding of a mixture consisting of the carrier polymer and the required drug. However, as this direct feeding approach shows limited homogenizing abilities, it is vital to investigate the effect of the pre-mixing step on the quality of the 3D printed products. Our study investigates the two commonly used mixing approaches—solvent casting and powder mixing. For this purpose, polycaprolactone (PCL) was used as the main polymer under investigation and gentamicin sulfate (GS) was selected as a reference. The produced systems’ efficacy was investigated for bacterial and biofilm prevention. Our data show that the solvent casting approach offers improved drug distribution within the polymeric matrix, as was observed from micro-computed topography and scanning electron microscopy visualization. Moreover, this approach shows a higher drug release rate and thus improved antibacterial efficacy. However, there were no differences among the tested approaches in terms of thermal and mechanical properties.


Polymers ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 1487 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuhan Liao ◽  
Chang Liu ◽  
Bartolomeo Coppola ◽  
Giuseppina Barra ◽  
Luciano Di Maio ◽  
...  

Additive manufacturing (AM) is a promising technology for the rapid tooling and fabrication of complex geometry components. Among all AM techniques, fused filament fabrication (FFF) is the most widely used technique for polymers. However, the consistency and properties control of the FFF product remains a challenging issue. This study aims to investigate physical changes during the 3D printing of polylactic acid (PLA). The correlations between the porosity, crystallinity and mechanical properties of the printed parts were studied. Moreover, the effects of the build-platform temperature were investigated. The experimental results confirmed the anisotropy of printed objects due to the occurrence of orientation phenomena during the filament deposition and the formation both of ordered and disordered crystalline forms (α and δ, respectively). A heat treatment post-3D printing was proposed as an effective method to improve mechanical properties by optimizing the crystallinity (transforming the δ form into the α one) and overcoming the anisotropy of the 3D printed object.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 728-735 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew J. Harding ◽  
Sarah Brady ◽  
Heather O'Connor ◽  
Rafael Lopez-Rodriguez ◽  
Matthew D. Edwards ◽  
...  

3D-printed parts in PEEK for flow chemistry and continuous processing produced using fused filament fabrication.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jihye Deborah Kang ◽  
Sungmin Kim

PurposeThe development of a 3D printing method for the textile hybrid structure that can both be a solution to the conventional drawbacks of 3D printing method and a step forward to a garment making industry.Design/methodology/approachA novel 3D printing method using the textile hybrid structure was developed to generate 3D object without support structures.Findings3D printing of curved panels without support structure was possible by using fabric tension and residual stress.Practical implicationsGarment panels can be 3D printed without support structures by utilizing the idea of textile hybrid structure. Garment panels are expected to be modelled and printed easily using the Garment Panel Printer (GPP) software developed in this study.Social implications3D printing method developed in the study is expected to reduce the time and material previously needed for support structures.Originality/valueComprehensive preparatory experiments were made to determine the design parameters. Various experiments were designed to test the feasibility and validity of proposed method.


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