Conformal Geometry and Multimaterial Additive Manufacturing through Freeform Transformation of Building Layers

Abstract

3D printing, formally known as additive manufacturing, creates complex geometries via layer‐by‐layer addition of materials. While 3D printing has been historically perceived as the static addition of build layers, 3D printing is now considered as a dynamic assembly process. In this context, here a new 3D printing process is reported that executes full degree‐of‐freedom (DOF) transformation (translating, rotating, and scaling) of each individual building layer while utilizing continuous fabrication techniques. Transforming individual building layers within the sequential layered manufacturing process enables dynamic transformation of the 3D printed parts on‐the‐fly, eliminating the time‐consuming redesign steps. Preserving the locality of the transformation to each layer further enables the discrete conformal transformation, allowing objects such as vascular scaffolds to be optimally fabricated to properly fit within specific patient anatomy obtained from the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measurements. Finally, exploiting the freedom to control the orientation of each individual building layer, multimaterials, multiaxis 3D printing capability are further established for integrating functional modules made of dissimilar materials in 3D printed devices. This final capability is demonstrated through 3D printing a soft pneumatic gripper via heterogenous integration of rigid base and soft actuating limbs.

Numerical Simulation and Experimental Study of the Stress Formation Mechanism of FDM with Different Printing Paths

“…The molten filament is printed by the nozzle in the x-y plane according to the printing speed, printing path, printing temperature and other parameters set in the STL file [2]. The final 3D model is formed by overlaying the layered information along the z-axis of the printer [3]. FDM technique is widely used because of its advantages such as adaptability of printing materials [4,5], easy maintenance of printing devices [6], low environmental pollution [7], and space-saving [8].…”

Layer-by-Layer Cell Encapsulation for Drug Delivery: The History, Technique Basis, and Applications

“…Additionally, through electrophoresis, the amount of materials on surface of particle can be precisely obtained. Nonetheless, the dynamic kinetics in the encapsulation process could still influence the results more or less [142].…”

Composites Additive Manufacturing for Space Applications: A Review

“…The interconnects favour using copper because it has very low resistivity, resulting in negligible voltage drops despite micrometre-level thickness; for 3D-printed materials with a high resistivity value to be viable, the interconnect should have a large cross-sectional area or/and short length which will limit their applications to lowdensity circuitry. For passive components, on the other hand, AM may diversify existing two-dimensional geometries by printing unusual shapes or conformal patterns onto any curvilinear surfaces [91,92]. Researchers have been able to manufacture all basic circuit components including resistors (R), inductors (L), and capacitors (C) that can be combined to function as filters or antennas (LC tanks); these components along with conducting traces are mounted on the surface of a circuit board.…”