Gaining a better understanding of the extrusion process in fused filament fabrication 3D printing: a review

Abstract

Additive manufacturing is a promising tool that has proved its value in various applications. Among its technologies, the fused filament fabrication 3D printing technique stands out with its potential to serve a wide variety of applications, ranging from simple educational purposes to industrial and medical applications. However, as many materials and composites can be utilized for this technique, the processability of these materials can be a limiting factor for producing products with the required quality and properties. Over the past few years, many researchers have attempted to better understand the melt extrusion process during 3D printing. Moreover, other research groups have focused on optimizing the process by adjusting the process parameters. These attempts were conducted using different methods, including proposing analytical models, establishing numerical models, or experimental techniques. This review highlights the most relevant work from recent years on fused filament fabrication 3D printing and discusses the future perspectives of this 3D printing technology.

Coupling Additive Manufacturing with Hot Melt Extrusion Technologies to Validate a Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia Mouse Model

“…The produced nozzles were attached to an extrusion head of a fused filament fabrication 3D printer. PLA filaments—a widely used material in 3D printing applications [ 30 ]—were used for this initial testing, resulting in extrudates with a shape similar to the nozzles. Moreover, the internal lumen was always preserved.…”

3D/4D Printing of Polymers: Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM), Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), and Stereolithography (SLA)

“…Fused deposition modelling (FDM) also known as fused filament fabrication (FFF) is a process of depositing thermoplastic filaments layer by layer on a build platform [30,49,[89][90][91][92][93][94][95]. The polymer filament is heated to a semi-solid state and deposited on the print bed or heated platform.…”

Fused Filament Fabrication Process: A Review of Numerical Simulation Techniques

“…Researchers around the globe have been putting their efforts into AM processes improvement and novel materials over the past few decades [ 13 , 14 ]. The research efforts include process printing speed, printer build volume, and production rate [ 15 ]. The materials portfolio has also included short and continuous fiber-reinforced polymer composites for the FFF process [ 16 , 17 , 18 ].…”