I-Corps: Resin mini-extruder for additive manufacturing

I-Corps：用于增材制造的树脂微型挤出机

• 批准号: 1743948
• 负责人: Charles Kim
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: Bucknell University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-06-15 至 2018-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1743948&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Resin; mini; extruder; additive

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project involves providing significantly lower operating costs, broader material variety, and faster speeds than currently available with the fused-deposition modeling (FDM) additive manufacturing process. As additive manufacturing transitions from a prototyping tool to manufacturing solution, the demand for fast, inexpensive, and dynamic 3D printing solutions will continue to grow. The Resin Mini-Extruder is capable of integrating with existing 3D printer electro-mechanical systems and processing raw plastic pellets (resin) directly into a final part, unlike existing FDM technologies that require a filament feedstock. Raw pelletized plastics are typically a tenth to hundredth the cost of comparable filaments, which allow for significantly lower costs per print. In addition, the proposed solution is capable of printing a wide variety of plastics that are very difficult to print with existing extruders, including thermoplastic elastomers and polymer composites. The Resin Mini-Extruder is capable of significantly faster production than existing FDM technologies, which will enable high turnover of design prototypes and production parts.This I-Corps project is based on prior NSF-funded research involving a design framework for biomimetic elasto-fluidic systems. The research inspired the invention of a novel technology for manufacturing elasto-fluidic actuators, which forms the basis of this I-Corps project. The technology, the Resin Mini-Extruder for additive manufacturing, is a screw-driven extrusion system, which includes a novel screw-drive extruder and dynamic control system. The intent is to implement the extruder with existing 3D printer electro-mechanical systems in a FDM additive manufacturing process. The invention of the Resin Mini-Extruder was motivated by the need to print materials that existing FDM technologies are incapable of processing, namely thermoplastic elastomers. A goal of this I-Corps project is to determine whether customers demand broader material variety from FDM and if so, which materials and composites are preferred. The I-Corps process will also be used to determine the extent at which the other technology advantages are valued among customers, including cost per print and print speed, in particular applications.

该I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力涉及与融合沉积建模（FDM）添加剂制造过程相比，提供的运营成本，更广泛的材料和更快的速度可显着降低。作为从原型制造工具到制造解决方案的添加剂制造过渡，对快速，廉价和动态3D打印解决方案的需求将继续增长。与现有的3D打印机电力系统系统并将原始塑料颗粒（树脂）直接分为最后一部分，与现有的3D打印机电力机械系统和处理，与现有的FDM技术不同，该塑料颗粒（树脂）能够与现有的3D打印机电力系统（树脂）进行整合，这与需要细丝原料的现有技术不同。原始的颗粒化塑料通常是可比细丝的成本的十分之一到百分之十，这使每张印刷成本显着降低。此外，提出的解决方案能够打印各种塑料，这些塑料很难与现有挤出机（包括热塑性弹性体和聚合物复合材料）打印。树脂迷你侵略器能够比现有的FDM技术更快地生产，这将使设计原型和生产部分的高离职率高。该I-Corps项目基于先前的NSF资助研究，涉及涉及生物模仿弹性纤维含量的设计框架系统。该研究启发了一种用于制造Elasto-Fuluidic致动器的新技术的发明，该技术构成了该I-Corps项目的基础。该技术是用于添加剂制造的树脂迷你抛弃器，是螺丝驱动的挤出系统，其中包括一种新型的螺丝驱动器挤出机和动态控制系统。目的是在FDM添加剂制造过程中使用现有的3D打印机电力系统实现挤出机。树脂迷你脱位的发明是出于需要打印现有FDM技术无法处理的材料的动机，即热塑性弹性体。这个I-Corps项目的一个目标是确定客户是否需要从FDM中需要更广泛的材料，如果是，则首选哪些材料和复合材料。 I-Corps流程还将用于确定客户之间重视其他技术优势的程度，包括每次打印和打印速度，特别是应用程序。