I-Corps: High Performance 3D Printed Plastic Parts Through Novel Process Enhancement

I-Corps：通过创新工艺增强的高性能 3D 打印塑料零件

• 批准号: 2319061
• 负责人: Ankur Jain
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: University of Texas at Arlington
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-05-01 至 2024-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2319061&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Performance; 3D; Printed; Plastic

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of technology to improve the quality of 3D printed polymer parts. Despite the promise of 3D printing technology, it is still far from meeting its full potential. Although it offers low-cost, accessible part fabrication with geometric accuracy sufficient for many applications, polymer 3D printed parts often have poor strength (less than 20% of that of injection molded parts) and are not yet ready to be used as load-bearing parts. Poor filament-to-filament adhesion is at the heart of such problems in polymer 3D printing. To address this key technological challenge, a print-head has been developed containing additional metal pre-heater and post-heater components, which provide additional thermal energy in a highly localized manner to delay the cooling curve and improve filament-to-filament adhesion. The proposed print head is an add-on or plug-and-play device that may result in a simple add-on that can be fitted into almost any existing filament-based 3D printer. If successful, the improved quality and reduced cost of polymer 3D printing enabled by this technology will help print high-performance parts that may go into a variety of engineering systems. This I-Corps project is based on the development of an in situ metal heater integrated with the regular filament-dispensing nozzle in a polymer 3D printer to improve the mechanical strength of printed parts. The additional thermal energy provided by the heater helps improve the filament-to-filament adhesion through reduced rate of cooling during the printing process. This has been shown to lead to improved mechanical strength and other properties of the printed part. Parts printed with the proposed technology may be suitable for challenging and complex engineering systems where the parts are expected to withstand significant load. This will help elevate polymer 3D printing technology from being able to print prototypes to one that can produce real-life parts. If successful, parts printed with this product may enable applications that are not possible with the current manufacturing technology.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发提高3D印刷聚合物零件质量的技术。尽管有3D打印技术的承诺，但它仍然远远没有达到其全部潜力。 尽管它提供低成本，可访问的零件制造具有足够的几何精度，但对于许多应用，Polymer 3D打印零件通常具有较差的强度（少于注入模制零件的零件），并且尚未准备好用作负载零件。在聚合物3D打印中，丝丝粘附不良是此类问题的核心。 为了应对这一关键的技术挑战，已经开发了一个印刷头，其中包含额外的金属预心和后备用组件，该组件以高度局部的方式提供了额外的热能，以延迟冷却曲线并改善丝之间丝之间的粘附。建议的打印头是一种附加或插件设备，可能会导致简单的附加组件，几乎可以将其安装到任何现有的基于灯丝的3D打印机中。 如果成功，该技术实现了聚合物3D打印的质量和降低的成本将有助于打印可能进入各种工程系统的高性能零件。这个I-Corps项目基于与普通细丝插头喷嘴集成在聚合物3D打印机中的原位金属加热器的开发，以提高印刷零件的机械强度。加热器提供的额外热能有助于通过降低印刷过程中的冷却速率来改善丝之间的粘附。这已显示出可提高印刷部分的机械强度和其他特性。用建议的技术打印的零件可能适用于挑战和复杂的工程系统，在这些系统中，预期零件可以承受重大负载。这将有助于将聚合物3D打印技术从能够打印原型到可以产生真实零件的原型。如果成功的话，使用此产品打印的零件可能会实现当前制造技术无法实现的应用程序。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响评估标准通过评估来支持的。