scholarly journals A review of recently developed polymer composite materials for fused deposition modeling 3D printing

Author(s):  
Surendra Singh Dewada ◽  
Amit Telang

Abstract Additive Manufacturing (AM) is a rapidly evolving technology due to its numerous advantages over traditional manufacturing processes. AM processable materials are limited and have poor mechanical performance, restraining the technology's potential for functional part manufacturing. Although FDM is the most popular and growing technique, the inferiority of the material limits its application to prototyping. Nanocomposite material improves the thermal, mechanical, and electrical performance of FDM objects. Mostly polymer nanocomposites are feasible to process and several researchers have reported enhanced performance with polymer nanocomposites. Carbon nanotubes, graphene nanoplatelets, nano clay, and carbon fiber are primary reinforcements to thermoplastics. The current state of the art relevant to advances in nanocomposites for the FDM process, as well as the influence of nanofillers on mechanical properties of the build object are reviewed in this paper.

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Javier Andrés ◽  
Antonio Pérez-González ◽  
Carlos Rubert ◽  
José Fuentes ◽  
Bruno Sospedra

The popularization of fused deposition modeling (FDM) technology and open-source microcontrollers has permitted the explosion of electric hand prostheses that can be designed, shared, built, and operated at a low cost, under the Do It Yourself premise. Patients with limb reductions at the transcarpal or transradial level are best candidates to benefit from them. They manage the gross location with the remaining limb, while the built-in motors offer the possibility of controlling each finger independently. The number of mobile joints along the finger and the type of transmission can determine the quality of the grasp. Moreover, there is a need of objective procedures to assess the functionality of complete prototypes at reasonable effort. This work makes a critical review of the different transmission systems that can be found in most low-cost finger designs: linkage and tendon mechanisms. Mechanical performance has been analyzed using a standardized model of the index finger. Furthermore, robotic grasp quality metrics (GQM) have been used to evaluate by simulation the functionality of complete devices. Neither finger transmission design appeared clearly advantageous in the range of flexion studied. The evaluation of the complete devices gave slightly better quality grades for the linkage-driven model. Instead, tendon-driven model achieved a greater quantity of successful grasps. In the current state of art, some other aspects may have led to a dominant situation of the tendon-driven hands: fewer number of parts to be printed, easier assembly for a nonexpert user, advantageous in pursuit of lightweight devices.


2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 462-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oluwakayode Bamiduro ◽  
Gbadebo Owolabi ◽  
Mulugeta A. Haile ◽  
Jaret C. Riddick

Purpose The continual growth of additive manufacturing has increased tremendously because of its versatility, flexibility and high customization of geometric structures. However, design hurdles are presented in understanding the relationship between the fabrication process and materials microstructure as it relates to the mechanical performance. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of build architecture and microstructure and the effects of load direction on the static response and mechanical properties of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) specimens obtained via the fused deposition modeling (FDM) processing technique. Design/methodology/approach Among additive manufacturing processes, FDM is a prolific technology for manufacturing ABS. The blend of ABS combines strength, rigidity and toughness, all of which are desirable for the production of structural materials in rapid manufacturing applications. However, reported literature has varied widely on the mechanical performance due to the proprietary nature of the ABS material ratio, ultimately creating a design hurdle. While prior experimental studies have studied the mechanical response via uniaxial tension testing, this study has aimed to understand the mechanical response of ABS from the materials’ microstructural point of view. First, ABS specimen was fabricated via FDM using a defined build architecture. Next, the specimens were mechanically tested until failure. Then finally, the failure structures were microstructurally investigated. In this paper, the effects of microstructural evolution on the static mechanical response of various build architecture of ABS aimed at FDM manufacturing technique was analyzed. Findings The results show that the rastering orientation of 0/90 exhibited the highest tensile strength followed by fracture at its maximum load. However, the “45” bead direction of the ABS fibers displayed a cold-drawing behavior before rupture. The morphology analyses before and after tensile failure were characterized by a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) which highlighted the effects of bead geometry (layers) and areas of stress concentration such as interstitial voids in the material during build, ultimately compromising the structural integrity of the specimens. Research limitations/implications The ability to control the constituents and microstructure of a material during fabrication is significant to improving and predicting the mechanical performance of structural additive manufacturing components. In this report, the effects of microstructure on the mechanical performance of FDM-fabricated ABS materials was discussed. Further investigations are planned in understanding the effects of ambient environmental conditions (such as moisture) on the ABS material pre- and post-fabrication. Originality/value The study provides valuable experimental data for the purpose of understanding the inter-dependency between build parameters and microstructure as it relates to the specimens exemplified strength. The results highlighted in this study are fundamental to the development of optimal design of strength and complex ultra-lightweight structure efficiency.


2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 973-982 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hao Li ◽  
Shuai Zhang ◽  
Zhiran Yi ◽  
Jie Li ◽  
Aihua Sun ◽  
...  

Purpose This work aims to evaluate the influence of rheological properties of building materials on the bonding quality and ultimate tensile strength in the fused deposition modeling (FDM) process, through the investigation of parts printed by semi-crystalline and amorphous resins. Little information is currently available about the influence of the crystalline nature on FDM-printed part quality. Design/methodology/approach Semi-crystalline polyamide 12 and amorphous acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) were used to assess the influence of rheological properties on bonding quality and the tensile strength, by varying three important process parameters: materials, liquefier temperature and raster orientation. A fractography of both tensile and freeze-fractured samples was also investigated. Findings The rheological properties, mainly the melt viscosity, were found to have a significant influence on the bonding quality of fused filaments. Better bonding quality and higher tensile strength of FDM parts printed with semi-crystalline PA12, as compared with amorphous ABS, are suggested to be a result of higher initial sintering rates owing to the lower melt viscosity of PA12 at low shear rates. Near-full dense PA12 parts were obtained by FDM. Originality/value This project provides a variety of data and insight regarding the effect of materials properties on the mechanical performance of FDM-printed parts. The results showed that FDM technique allows the production of PA12 parts with adequate mechanical performance, overcoming the greatest limitation of a dependence on amorphous thermoplastics as a feedstock for the production of prototypes.


Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 77
Author(s):  
Sasa Gao ◽  
Ruijuan Liu ◽  
Hua Xin ◽  
Haitao Liang ◽  
Yunfei Wang ◽  
...  

Additive manufacturing provides a novel and robust way to prepare medical product with anatomic matched geometry and tailored mechanical performance. In this study, the surface characteristics, microstructure, and mechanical properties of fused deposition modeling (FDM) prepared polyether-ether-ketone (PEEK) were systematically studied. During the FDM process, the crystal unit cell and thermal attribute of PEEK material remained unchanged, whereas the surface layer generally became more hydrophilic with an obvious reduction in surface hardness. Raster angle has a significant effect on the mechanical strength but not on the failure mechanism. In practice, FDM fabricated PEEK acted more like a laminate rather than a unified structure. Its main failure mechanism was correlated to the internal voids. The results show that horizontal infill orientation with 30° raster angle is promising for a better comprehensive mechanical performance, and the corresponding tensile, flexural, and shear strengths are (76.5 ± 1.4) MPa, (149.7 ± 3.0) MPa, and (55.5 ± 1.8) MPa, respectively. The findings of this study provide guidelines for FDM-PEEK to enable its realization in applications such as orthopedic implants.


2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shenglong Jiang ◽  
Guangxin Liao ◽  
Dingding Xu ◽  
Fenghua Liu ◽  
Wen Li ◽  
...  

Polyetherimide (PEI) is a kind of high-performance polymer, which possesses a high glass transition temperature ( Tg), excellent flame retardancy, low smoke generation, and good mechanical properties. In this article, PEI was applied in the fused deposition modeling (FDM)–based 3-D printing for the first time. The entire process from filament extrusion to printing was studied. It was observed that the filament orientation and nozzle temperature were closely related to the mechanical properties of printed samples. When the nozzle temperature is 370°C, the mean tensile strength of FDM printing parts can reach to 104 MPa, which is only 7% lower than that of injection molded parts. It can be seen that the 0° orientation set of samples show the highest storage modulus (2492 MPa) followed by the 45° samples, and the 90° orientation set of samples show the minimum storage modulus (1420 MPa) at room temperature. The above results indicated that this technique allows the production of parts with adequate mechanical performance, which does not need to be restricted to the production of mock-ups and prototypes. Our work broke the limitations of traditional FDM technology and expanded the types of material available for FDM to the high-temperature engineering plastics.


Author(s):  
Saty Dev ◽  
Rajeev Srivastava

Fused deposition modeling (FDM) technology is catching the fast global market in the real-time production of polymeric parts. Process variables highly influence the performance characteristics of FDM-generated parts, so mechanical performance is not perfect for all applications. In actual conditions, parts produced by FDM are constantly subjected to loading at different temperatures. The former studies mainly concentrated on the properties of FDM products to static loading environments. There is a scope of effective investigation on the influence of FDM processing conditions on dynamic mechanical properties using artificial intelligence (AI) based techniques. The present study focused on investigation and optimization the manufacturing process parameters to evaluate the dynamic mechanical performance of FDM-produced part. The experimental runs were obtained through central composite design in Minitab software. A DMA8000 instrument was used to test the specimens for dynamic mechanical performance. The mathematical models were developed and optimized through different approaches like response surface methodology-genetic algorithm (RSM-GA) and artificial neural network-genetic algorithm (ANN-GA). The techniques for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS) is employed to obtain the best parameter settings from sets of optimized solutions. The sequential use of ANN-GA and TOPSIS methods predicted the highest values of storage modulus 1619.61 MPa and loss modulus 257.38 MPa corresponding to 68.94° raster angle, 81.48% infill density, 0.10 mm layer thickness, 237.73°C nozzle temperature and 38.97 mm/s print head speed. The confirmation tests were conducted to validate the predicted result that upscale the desired properties. The RSM-GA-TOPSIS occurred with a prediction error of 2.40% and −3.31%, corresponding to storage and loss modulus. Similarly, ANN-GA-TOPSIS shows 2.17% and 2.89% prediction error corresponding to storage and loss modulus. The experimental and analytical outcome of present study will be helpful for the designers of intricate functional parts which come under thermo-mechanical loading conditions.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 21-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Gnanasekaran ◽  
T. Heijmans ◽  
S. van Bennekom ◽  
H. Woldhuis ◽  
S. Wijnia ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (7) ◽  
pp. 1145-1154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xia Gao ◽  
Daijun Zhang ◽  
Xiangning Wen ◽  
Shunxin Qi ◽  
Yunlan Su ◽  
...  

Purpose This work aims to develop a new kind of semicrystalline polymer filament and optimize its printing parameters in the fused deposition modeling process. The purpose of this work also includes producing FDM parts with good ductility. Design/methodology/approach A new kind of semicrystalline filaments composed of long-chain polyamide (PA)1012 was prepared by controlling screw speed and pulling speed carefully. The optimal printing parameters for PA1012 filaments were explored through investigating dimensional accuracy and bonding strength of FDM parts. Furthermore, the mechanical properties of PA1012 specimens were also evaluated by varying nozzle temperatures and raster angles. Findings It is found that PA1012 filaments can accommodate for FDM process under suitable printing parameters. The print quality and mechanical properties of FDM parts highly depend on nozzle temperature and bed temperature. Even though higher temperatures facilitate stronger interlayer bonding, FDM parts with excellent tensile strength were obtained at a moderate nozzle temperature. Moreover, a bed temperature well above the glass transition temperature of PA1012 can eliminate shrinkage and distortion of FDM parts. As expected, FDM parts prepared with PA1012 filaments exhibit good ductility. Originality/value Results in this work demonstrate that the PA1012 filament allows the production of FDM parts with desired mechanical performance. This indicates the potential for overcoming the dependence on amorphous thermoplastics as a feedstock in the FDM technique. This work also provides insight into the effect of materials properties on the mechanical performance of FDM-printed parts.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document