Expressive Fused Deposition Modeling by Controlling Extruder Height and Extrusion Amount

Abstract

Fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printers form objects by stacking layers having a linear structure. To print fine structures, an appropriate choice of parameters is necessary, or printing error occurs. On the other hand, the printing error is exploited as an expression technique. However, the relation between the printed structure and the parameters causing the printing error is unclear. In this paper, we focus on the height position of the extruder and the amount of extruded material, and explore the combination of these parameters to enhance the capability of FDM. By extending an equation that calculates the amount of material from the layer height, we investigate the behavior and structure of material extruded from various height positions. On the basis of experimental results, the printed structure is classified into six categories according to the structural feature. We describe these structural features and demonstrate examples with new inherent expressions for FDM.

DefeXtiles

“…Furbrication utilizes the stringing effect of 3D printing filaments to create hairlike structures [13]. Expressive FDM [32] generates new forms by varying parameters that affect the height and amount of extruded material, similar to aesthetic filament sculptures [14] and Making Mistakes [33]. This can also be used to print tactile sheets [31].…”

Programmable Filament

“…WirePrint allows diagonal z-movements of a delta style printer to construct sparse wireframe meshes so reduce the printing time [22]. Controlling the height of the nozzle as well as the amount of material extrusion, expressive textures such as a fluffy surface can be created [37]. 3D printed fabric is an additional technique enabling the weaving movements of the header, enabling users to create a flexible fabric out of rigid plastic [36].…”

Review of additive manufactured tissue engineering scaffolds: relationship between geometry and performance

“…Two publications in the last 12 months have investigated a new strategy for material extrusion additive manufacturing, in which the speed of the nozzle and the rate of material extrusion were adjusted to achieve new structures [ 61 , 62 ]. Figure 11 shows the strategy used by Yuk and Zhao [ 62 ]: by setting a low extrusion rate relative to nozzle speed, the filament was stretched to be narrower than the nozzle diameter, whereas setting a high extrusion rate caused the filament to either widen or fold on itself (“coiling” or “accumulation” in Fig.…”

“…The authors suggested that innovations and applications of material extrusion additive manufacturing have been severely hampered by the limitations of typical deposition strategies. Takahashi and Miyashita [ 61 ] also undertook a detailed study varying the extrusion rate and height of the nozzle but for polylactide as opposed to a silicone hydrogel. They demonstrated capabilities to print a range of structural geometries with a focus on achieving different surface textures.…”

“…Therefore, in a few cases, custom software has been developed to offer more precise control over specific aspects of the additive manufacturing nozzle position and print path—for example, to enable precise placement of different cell-laden hydrogels in tissue constructs [ 25 ]—but this is uncommon, and the custom software typically shares many similarities with off-the-shelf software. Fundamentally, a material extrusion additive manufacturing system is simply a robot that can place material in a chosen position, and there is a wide scope for entirely new and novel structures to be produced [ 61 , 62 ]. For example, by carefully designing the arrangement of filaments, auxetic scaffolds could be fabricated [ 63 ], which would provide extremely different mechanical stress conditions for cells (versus regular scaffolds) and replicate the auxetic properties of some natural tissues including the skin, bone, and endothelium tissue [ 64 ].…”