Purpose
Multi-jet deposition of the materials is a matured technology used for graphic printing and 3 D printing for a wide range of materials. The multi-jet technology is fine-tuned for liquids with a specific range of viscosity and surface tension. However, the use of multi-jet for low viscosity fluids like water is not very popular. This paper aims to demonstrate the technique, particularly for the water-ice 3 D printing. 3 D printed ice parts can be used as patterns for investment casting, templates for microfluidic channel fabrication, support material for polymer 3 D printing, etc.
Design/methodology/approach
Multi-jet ice 3 D printing is a novel technique for producing ice parts by selective deposition and freezing water layers. The paper confers the design, embodiment and integration of various subsystems of multi-jet ice 3 D printer. The outcomes of the machine trials are reported as case studies with elaborate details.
Findings
The prismatic geometries are realized by ice 3 D printing. The accuracy of 0.1 mm is found in the build direction. The part height tends to increase due to volumetric expansion during the phase change.
Originality/value
The present paper gives a novel architecture of the ice 3 D printer that produces the ice parts with good accuracy. The potential applications of the process are deliberated in this paper.
Cryogenic 3D Printing (Cryo-3DP) creates 3D objects by deposition-then-freezing of aqueous solutions of various materials layer-by-layer. The process generally takes place at the temperature ranging from -20 °C to -25°C. At the beginning of the process, cryo-3DP demands a high cooling rate to reduce the work envelope’s temperature rapidly. After the work envelope reaches the working temperature (-20 to -25°C), lower cooling rates are enough. The proposed multimodal freezing system uses two modes of cooling. Rapid injection of the CO2 gas in the chamber is suitable for achieving high cooling rates (0.5 °Cs-1) initially and Vapor Compression Refrigeration (VCR) for sustained heat removal from the system (0.5 °Cmin-1). The results show that the proposed multimodal system performs faster than the conventional system.
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