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Advances in Polymer Composite Deposition Additive Manufacturing

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A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Manufacturing Processes and Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 January 2024) | Viewed by 8217

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Douglas E. Smith

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Guest Editor

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Baylor University, Waco, TX 76798, USA
Interests: polymer composites; simulation; additive manufacturing; fiber orientation; topology optimization

Dr. Chad Duty

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Guest Editor

Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering Department, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
Interests: additive manufacturing; polymer composites; rheology; material extrusion

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Among the various additive manufacturing (AM) technologies, material extrusion is perhaps the most widely used among deposition systems, which vary from small desktop Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) printers to large scale pellet extrusion systems capable of delivering tens of pounds of polymer composite material per hour. As the demands on polymer deposition systems have developed from that of simple prototyping machines to the fabrication of end use parts, the need for advanced materials such as polymer composites in AM has never been greater. Advancing our understanding of polymer composite deposition and the various technologies that enable its further application is critical to the future of AM as a means of making engineering products, components, and assemblies.

It is our pleasure to invite you to submit a manuscript for this Special Issue on advances in polymer composite deposition additive manufacturing. The goal of this Special Issue is to assemble a collection of original works from engineers and researchers across various disciplines and industries who work to advance and apply polymer composite deposition processes. We aim to include research on the latest advances and trends in the materials, processing, simulation, and design of polymer composite deposition.

The topics of interest in polymer composite deposition include but are not limited to:

Fused filament fabrication of polymer composites;
Large scale polymer composite deposition;
Polymer composite deposition filament and pellet properties;
Process–structure–property maps of polymer composites;
Variability in processing and part performance;
Control of the polymer composite deposition process;
Design for manufacturing parts produced with polymer composite deposition;
Effect of fiber reinforcement (carbon, glass, Kevlar, baron, natural fibers, etc.) on deposition and part properties;
Effect of the deposition process on part properties (strength, stiffness, toughness, density, etc.);
Multifunctionality (structural properties, thermal and electrical conductivities, energetic properties, etc.) of the deposited polymer composites;
Effect of additives and fillers at various length scales (micro, nano);
Modelling and simulation of the polymer composites melt flow during processing;
Analyzing and predicting microstructure (fiber orientation, fiber length, particle distribution, void formation, etc.);
Inter-bead adhesion and strength;
Deposition enhancement (rolling, tamping, heating, etc.) and post processing;
Dimensional accuracy of the final product;
Role of the deposition process on end-use parts;
Integration of the deposition process into 3D printing system hardware.

Dr. Douglas E. Smith
Dr. Chad Duty
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

polymer composites
fused filament fabrication
large area additive manufacturing
modelling and simulation
end-use part performance
process-structure-property maps

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

27 pages, 18709 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Fiber Orientation on the Coefficient of Thermal Expansion of Fiber-Filled Polymer Systems in Large Format Polymer Extrusion-Based Additive Manufacturing

by José Luis Colón Quintana, Lucinda Slattery, Jon Pinkham, Joanna Keaton, Roberto A. Lopez-Anido and Keith Sharp

Materials 2022, 15(8), 2764; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15082764 - 09 Apr 2022

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2663

Abstract

Large format polymer extrusion-based additive manufacturing has been studied recently due to its capacity for high throughput, customizable bead size and geometry, and ability to manufacture large parts. Samples from three fiber-filled amorphous thermoplastic materials 3D printed using a Masterprint 3X machine from Ingersoll Machine Tools were studied, along with their neat counterparts. Characterization techniques included thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and thermo-mechanical analysis (TMA). TGA results showed that the fillers decreased the degradation temperature for most of the materials investigated, with a 30

°

C decrease for polycarbonate (PC) and a 12

°

C decrease for polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG). For all the materials used, heat capacity increases with increasing temperature. Moreover, results show that a highly conductive filler increases the heat capacity. In contrast, a material with a lower conductivity decreases the heat capacity indicated in the 15.2% and 2.54% increase for acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and PC and a 27.68% decrease for PETG. The TMA data show that the printed bead exhibits directional properties consistent with an orthotropic material. Smaller strains and coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) were measured along the bead direction and across the bead compared to the through bead thickness showing that fillers are predominantly oriented in the bead direction, which is consistent with the literature. CTE values through bead thickness and neat material are similar in magnitude, which corresponds to the CTE of the matrix material. The experimental results serve to characterize the effect of fiber filler on the part thermal strains in three principal directions and two-part locations during the extrusion and bead deposition of large-format polymer extrusion-based additive manufacturing technologies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Polymer Composite Deposition Additive Manufacturing)

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15 pages, 6088 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Compounding a High-Permittivity Thermoplastic Material and Its Applicability in Manufacturing of Microwave Photonic Crystals

by Gerardo Andres Mazzei Capote, Maria Camila Montoya-Ospina, Zijie Liu, Michael Sabatini Mattei, Boyuan Liu, Aidan P. Delgado, Zongfu Yu, Randall H. Goldsmith and Tim Andreas Osswald

Materials 2022, 15(7), 2492; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15072492 - 28 Mar 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2396

Abstract

Additive Manufacturing (AM) techniques allow the production of complex geometries unattainable through other traditional technologies. This advantage lends itself well to rapidly iterating and improving upon the design of microwave photonic crystals, which are structures with intricate, repeating features. The issue tackled by this work involves compounding a high-permittivity material that can be used to produce 3D microwave photonic structures using polymer extrusion-based AM techniques. This material was acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS)-based and used barium titanate (BaTiO₃) ceramic as the high-permittivity component of the composite and involved the use of a surfactant and a plasticizer to facilitate processing. Initial small amounts of the material were compounded using an internal batch mixer and studied using polymer thermal analysis techniques, such as thermogravimetric analysis, rheometry, and differential scanning calorimetry to determine the proper processing conditions. The production of the material was then scaled up using a twin-screw extruder system, producing homogeneous pellets. Finally, the thermoplastic composite was used with a screw-based, material extrusion additive manufacturing technique to produce a slab for measuring the relative permittivity of the material, as well as a preliminary 3D photonic crystal. The real part of the permittivity was measured to be 12.85 (loss tangent = 0.046) in the range of 10 to 12 GHz, representing the highest permittivity ever demonstrated for a thermoplastic AM composite at microwave frequencies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Polymer Composite Deposition Additive Manufacturing)

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26 pages, 9914 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Fully Coupled Simulation of Planar Deposition Flow and Fiber Orientation in Polymer Composites Additive Manufacturing

by Zhaogui Wang and Douglas E. Smith

Materials 2021, 14(10), 2596; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14102596 - 16 May 2021

Cited by 27 | Viewed by 2287

Abstract

Numerical studies for polymer composites deposition additive manufacturing have provided significant insight promoting the rapid development of the technology. However, little of existing literature addresses the complex yet important polymer composite melt flow–fiber orientation coupling during deposition. This paper explores the effect of flow–fiber interaction for polymer deposition of 13 wt.% Carbon Fiber filled Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (CF/ABS) composites through a finite-element-based numerical approach. The molten composite flow in the extrusion die plus a strand of the deposited bead contacting the deposition substrate is modelled using a 2D isothermal and incompressible Newtonian planar flow model, where the material deposition rate is ~110 mm/s simulating a large scale additive manufacturing process. The Folgar–Tucker model associated with the Advani–Tucker orientation tensor approach is adopted for the evaluation of the fiber orientation state, where the orthotropic fitted closure is applied. By comparing the computed results between the uncoupled and fully coupled solutions, it is found that the flow-orientation effects are mostly seen in the nozzle convergence zone and the extrusion-deposition transition zone of the flow domain. Further, the fully coupled fiber orientation solution is highly sensitive to the choice of the fiber–fiber interaction coefficient

C_{I}

, e.g., assigning

C_{I}

as 0.01 and 0.001 results in a 23% partial relative difference in the predicted elastic modulus along deposition direction. In addition, Structural properties of deposited CF/ABS beads based on our predicted fiber orientation results show favorable agreements with related experimental studies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Polymer Composite Deposition Additive Manufacturing)

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