SoftPrint: Investigating Haptic Softness Perception of 3D Printed Soft Object in FDM 3D Printers

Author(s):  
Motoki Miyoshi ◽  
Parinya Punpongsanon ◽  
Daisuke Iwai ◽  
Kosuke Sato

FDM 3D printers allow massive creativity in personal products, but their potential has been limited due to inability to manipulating material properties. Previous work had demonstrated that the desired roughness could be presented simply by controlling the spatial density of tiny pins on a printed surface. This article offers a means of providing the desired softness perception of a printed surface and the desired roughness to expand the haptic dimension over which a user can exert control. Specifically, we control the softness by manipulating the infill structures of a printed surface. However, it is known that a skin contact area affects softness perception. The roughness, which is controlled by pins’ density, may also affect the perceived softness of a printed surface. Therefore, we investigate how the internal structures and the density of the pins affect softness perception. Through psychophysical experiments, we derive a computational model that estimates the perceived softness from the density of the pins and the infill density of a printed surface.

Author(s):  
Olaf Diegel ◽  
Andrew Withell ◽  
Deon Debeer ◽  
Mark Wu

This paper describes research in adapting 3D printers to operate with low-cost ceramic materials. The components produced with these clay-based ceramic powders can be fired to produce strong, complex and lightweight ceramic parts. The final material properties, including the porosity of the parts, can be controlled through the part design and, potentially, through additives to the material that burn out during firing. The paper begins with a brief description of the 3D printing process and how it can be used with clay powders. It then introduces a factorial design experiment initiated to explore the effect of ingredient and parameter variations on the dimensional stability and material properties of green and fired ceramic parts. It then presents a case study in which 3D printed ceramic parts are used in the humidification system for an infant incubator for developing countries.


2014 ◽  
Vol 608 ◽  
pp. 351-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Huson ◽  
Stephen Hoskins

The Centre for Fine Print Research at the University of the West of England has over five years experience in the 3D printing of ceramic materials. The first project undertaken was to investigate the use of 3D technologies for artists and resulted in the development of a patented ceramic body suitable for use in Z Corporation 3D printers. After bisque firing this material can be further processed using conventional glazing and decorating techniques. A follow on project has resulted in a modified ceramic body and the development of firing supports to enable thin section ceramic tableware to be produced for ceramic industry concept modelling and short run or one-off pieces for artists and designers. This paper will detail the progress of the research and will explain by using case studies and examples of collaboration with a leading UK pottery manufacturer, individual artists and designers how this novel technique can be utilised to form shapes and forms difficult or impossible to realise by conventional forming methods. The potential of how the ability to form ceramic objects with complex internal structures could be beneficial to more specialist ceramics industries will also be explored.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (24) ◽  
pp. 8967
Author(s):  
Victor Gil Muñoz ◽  
Luisa M. Muneta ◽  
Ruth Carrasco-Gallego ◽  
Juan de Juanes Marquez ◽  
David Hidalgo-Carvajal

The circular economy model offers great opportunities to companies, as it not only allows them to capture additional value from their products and materials, but also reduce the fluctuations of price-related risks and material supply. These risks are present in all kind of businesses not based on the circular economy. The circular economy also enables economic growth without the need for more resources. This is because each unit has a higher value as a result of recycling and reuse of products and materials after use. Following this circular economics framework, the Polytechnic University of Madrid (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, UPM) has adopted strategies aimed at improving the circularity of products. In particular, this article provides the result of obtaining recycled PLA filament from waste originating from university 3D FFF (fused filament fabrication) printers and waste generated by “Coronamakers” in the production of visors and parts for PPEs (Personal Protective Equipment) during the lockdown period of COVID-19 in Spain. This filament is used in the production of 3D printed parts that university students use in their classes, so the circular loop is closed. The obtained score of Material Circularity Indicator (MCI) of this material has been calculated, indicating its high level of circularity.


2021 ◽  
pp. 004005992110101
Author(s):  
A. Chloe Simpson ◽  
Andrea Ruth Taliaferro

While assistive technology is often suggested as a way to increase, maintain, or improve functional ability for individuals with disabilities within physical activity (PA) settings, cost and availability of such items are often noted as barriers. In recent years, 3D printing has become available to the general public through the adoption of 3D printers in schools, libraries, and universities. Through individual design and rapid prototyping, 3D printing can support physical educators in accommodating student need for assistive technology through a multitude of modification possibilities. This article will highlight the capacity for 3D printed assistive technology within educational settings, and will illustrate how teachers, APE specialists, and other related service personnel can utilize this technology to support student success in PE and PA settings. This article will also assist practitioners with locating, uploading, and utilizing existing collections of 3D assistive technology models from open-source websites, such as Thingiverse.


Machines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 150
Author(s):  
Andrei Marius Mihalache ◽  
Gheorghe Nagîț ◽  
Laurențiu Slătineanu ◽  
Adelina Hrițuc ◽  
Angelos Markopoulos ◽  
...  

3D printing is a process that has become widely used in recent years, allowing the production of parts with relatively complicated shapes from metallic and non-metallic materials. In some cases, it is challenging to evaluate the ability of 3D printers to make fine details of parts. For such an assessment, the printing of samples showing intersections of surfaces with low angle values was considered. An experimental plan was designed and materialized to highlight the influence of different factors, such as the thickness of the deposited material layer, the printing speed, the cooling and filling conditions of the 3D-printed part, and the thickness of the sample. Samples using areas in the form of isosceles triangles with constant height or bases with the same length, respectively, were used. The mathematical processing of the experimental results allowed the determination of empirical mathematical models of the power-function type. It allowed the detection of both the direction of actions and the intensity of the influence exerted by the input factors. It is concluded that the strongest influence on the printer’s ability to produce fine detail, from the point of view addressed in the paper, is exerted by the vertex angle, whose reduction leads to a decrease in printing accuracy.


2014 ◽  
Vol 81 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xi Shi

Slip inception mechanism is very important for modeling of static friction and understanding of some experimental observations of friction. In this work, slip inception was treated as a local competence of interfacial bonding failure and weaker material failure. At any contacting point, if bond shear strength is weaker than softer material shear strength, slip inception is governed by interfacial bonding failure. Otherwise, it is governed by softer material failure. Considering the possible co-existence of these two slip inception mechanisms during presliding, a hybrid static friction model for smooth dry contact was proposed, which indicates that the static friction consists of two components: one contributed by contact area where bonding failure is dominant and the other contributed by contact area where material failure is dominant. With the proposed static friction model, the effects of contact pressure, the material properties, and the contact geometry on static friction were discussed.


Author(s):  
B. Poon ◽  
D. Rittel ◽  
G. Ravichandran

The paper reexamines the extraction of material properties using nanoindentation for linearly elastic and elastic-plastic materials. The paper considers indentation performed using a rigid conical indenter, as follows. Linearly elastic solids: The reduction of nanoindentation test data of elastic solids is usually processed using Sneddon’s relation [1], which assumes a linearly elastic infinite half space and an infinitely sharp indenter tip. These assumptions are violated in practical indentation experiments. Since most of the research on the extraction of material properties relies heavily on numerical simulations, we used them to investigate the specimen dimensions required for it to qualify as an infinite body, and the indentation conditions for finite tip radius effect to be negligible. The outcome of this part is firstly, the definition of a “converged” 2D geometry so that additional magnification of the numerical model does not influence the load-displacement curve, and secondly, an explicit relationship between the measured load and displacement that takes into account the finite tip radius. Elastic-plastic solids: Here, the main data reduction technique was proposed by Pharr et al. [2], assuming elastic unloading of a plastic nanoindentation. We investigated the effects of finite tip radius in elastic-plastic indentations and found that the accuracy of the prediction is currently limited by the accurate determination of the projected contact area. This point will be discussed and a new experimental technique to measure the projected contact area will be proposed. The Poisson’s ratio effect in elastic-plastic indentations is found to be different from the linearly elastic case. This leads to the discussion on the applicability of the correction factor (for Poisson’s ratio effect) derived in linear elastic indentations, on elastic-plastic indentations. Finally, a technique to obtain an upper bound estimate of the yield stress for the indented elastic-plastic material (which is an exact estimation for non-hardening materials), will be presented.


Chemosensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 317
Author(s):  
Zachary Brounstein ◽  
Jarrod Ronquillo ◽  
Andrea Labouriau

Eight chromophoric indicators are incorporated into Sylgard 184 to develop sensors that are fabricated either by traditional methods such as casting or by more advanced manufacturing techniques such as 3D printing. The sensors exhibit specific color changes when exposed to acidic species, basic species, or elevated temperatures. Additionally, material properties are investigated to assess the chemical structure, Shore A Hardness, and thermal stability. Comparisons between the casted and 3D printed sensors show that the sensing devices fabricated with the advanced manufacturing technique are more efficient because the color changes are more easily detected.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Ruiz-Cantu ◽  
Gustavo Trindade ◽  
Vincenzo Taresco ◽  
Zuoxin Zhou ◽  
Laurence Burroughs ◽  
...  

<p>Controlling the microstructure of materials by means of phase separation is a versatile tool for optimizing material properties. In this study, we show that ink jet 3D printing of polymer blends gives rise to controllable phase separation that can be used to tailor the release of drugs. We predicted phase separation using high throughput screening combined with a model based on the Flory-Huggins interaction parameter, and were able to show that drug release from 3D printed structures can be predicted from observations based on single drops of mixtures. This new understanding gives us hierarchical compositional control, from droplet to device, allowing release to be ‘dialed up’ without any manipulation of geometry. This is an important advance for implants that need to be delivered by cannula, where the shape is highly constrained and thus the usual geometrical freedoms associated with 3D printing cannot be exploited, bringing a hitherto unseen level of understanding to emergent material properties of 3D printing.</p>


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