Printing polymer blends through in situ active mixing during fused filament fabrication

Kennedy, Zachary C.; Christ, Josef F.

doi:10.1016/j.addma.2020.101233

Cited by 25 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…The authors revealed that intermixed specimens could increase the interface strength of FFF-made parts. Similarly, Zachary et al [64] designed an extrusion system with a dynamic mixer inside the extrusion head of the FFF machine. This addition helped to blend the polymer martials consistently and improved the mixing quality of the polymers.…”

Section: Materials Extrusion (Me)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Review on Additive Manufacturing of Multi-Material Parts: Progress and Challenges

Hasanov

Alkunte

Rajeshirke

et al. 2021

JMMP

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Additive manufacturing has already been established as a highly versatile manufacturing technique with demonstrated potential to completely transform conventional manufacturing in the future. The objective of this paper is to review the latest progress and challenges associated with the fabrication of multi-material parts using additive manufacturing technologies. Various manufacturing processes and materials used to produce functional components were investigated and summarized. The latest applications of multi-material additive manufacturing (MMAM) in the automotive, aerospace, biomedical and dentistry fields were demonstrated. An investigation on the current challenges was also carried out to predict the future direction of MMAM processes. It was concluded that further research and development is needed in the design of multi-material interfaces, manufacturing processes and the material compatibility of MMAM parts.

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Section: Materials Extrusion (Me)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Review on Additive Manufacturing of Multi-Material Parts: Progress and Challenges

Hasanov

Alkunte

Rajeshirke

et al. 2021

JMMP

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…They designed and manufactured a mixing nozzle and simulated the behavior of the melted material inside the extrusion chamber, searching for the most suitable temperature parameters at each extrusion speed to blend the materials. Other research groups have tried to improve the mixing of filaments inside the extruder working on the hardware: Khondoker et al [ 16 ] proposed an approach based on static mixing, whereas Kennedy and Christ [ 17 ] worked on dynamic mixing. In the first case [ 16 ], the design and characterization of a bi-extruder with a static intermixer was proposed, which can interlock two thermoplastics of different natures, regardless of their miscibility.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In general, the use of an intermixer could improve the strength and aesthetic homogeneity when compared to those which were achieve using a coextrusion. Kennedy and Christ [ 17 ] proposed a process named “in situ blending”. The extruder was designed to be adaptable to common low-cost machines, and it contains a drill bit that actively mixes the filaments inside the extrusion chamber using different types of bits with an adjustable speed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling Materials Coextrusion in Polymers Additive Manufacturing

et al. 2023

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Material extrusion additive manufacturing enables us to combine more materials in the same nozzle during the deposition process. This technology, called material coextrusion, generates an expanded range of material properties, which can gradually change in the design domain, ensuring blending or higher bonding/interlocking among the different materials. To exploit the opportunities offered by these technologies, it is necessary to know the behavior of the combined materials according to the materials fractions. In this work, two compatible pairs of materials, namely Polylactic Acid (PLA)-Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU) and Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylate (ASA)-TPU, were investigated by changing the material fractions in the coextrusion process. An original model describing the distribution of the materials is proposed. Based on this, the mechanical properties were investigated by analytical and numerical approaches. The analytical model was developed on the simplified assumption that the coextruded materials are a set of rods, whereas the more realistic numerical model is based on homogenization theory, adopting the finite element analysis of a representative volume element. To verify the deposition model, a specific experimental test was developed, and the modeled material deposition was superimposed and qualitatively compared with the actual microscope images regarding the different deposition directions and material fractions. The analytical and numerical models show similar trends, and it can be assumed that the finite element model has a more realistic behavior due to the higher accuracy of the model description. The elastic moduli obtained by the models was verified in experimental tensile tests. The tensile tests show Young’s moduli of 3425 MPa for PLA, 1812 MPa for ASA, and 162 MPa for TPU. At the intermediate material fraction, the Young’s modulus shows an almost linear trend between PLA and TPU and between ASA and TPU. The ultimate tensile strength values are 63.9 MPa for PLA, 35.7 MPa for ASA, and 63.5 MPa for TPU, whereas at the intermediate material fraction, they assume lower values. In this initial work, the results show a good agreement between models and experiments, providing useful tools for designers and contributing to a new branch in additive manufacturing research.

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“…Moreover, this production requires an extruder machine for the conversion of the polymeric blend into a lament shape and the optimization of all steps (e.g., ratio among conductive particles, polymer and solvent to generate the composite powder/pellet and melting temperature and stirring rate of the extruder 24 ) is typically a time-consuming and expensive process. 26 Another alternative and less explored approach for the fabrication of sensors based on FDM additive manufacturing consists of the coating of insulating 3D-printed plastic surfaces with conductive materials. [27][28][29] Exploring this concept, our research group recently proposed a simple immersion of an insulating 3D-printed substrate in a lab-made uid conductive composite containing a high fraction of conductive particles (55 wt% of graphite) followed by solvent evaporation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…, ratio among conductive particles, polymer and solvent to generate the composite powder/pellet and melting temperature and stirring rate of the extruder 24 ) is typically a time-consuming and expensive process. 26…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the coating of 3D-printed insulating substrates with conductive composites: a simple, cheap and versatile strategy to prepare customized high-performance electrochemical sensors

et al. 2022

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Printing polymer blends through in situ active mixing during fused filament fabrication

Cited by 25 publications

References 34 publications

Review on Additive Manufacturing of Multi-Material Parts: Progress and Challenges

Review on Additive Manufacturing of Multi-Material Parts: Progress and Challenges

Modeling Materials Coextrusion in Polymers Additive Manufacturing

Exploring the coating of 3D-printed insulating substrates with conductive composites: a simple, cheap and versatile strategy to prepare customized high-performance electrochemical sensors

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