Browsing by Subject "freeform extrusion fabrication"

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Effects of Temperature on Aqueous Freeform Extrusion Fabrication
(University of Texas at Austin, 2015) Li, Jie; Leu, Ming C.; Hilmas, Gregory E.
An experimental study was conducted to investigate the effect of temperature on ceramic parts produced by paste extrusion based additive manufacturing followed by sintering. A computer-controlled gantry system equipped with a piston extruder was used to extrude aqueous alumina paste. The system includes a temperature control subsystem that allows for freeform extrusion fabrication inside a low-temperature (<0°C) chamber. It can also be used for fabricating parts on a hot plate at ambient or higher temperatures (≥20°C). Test specimens were fabricated from aqueous aluminum pastes at -20°C in the low-temperature chamber and also on the hot plate at 40°C. The minimum angles achievable by these two processes for part fabrication, without use of support material, were compared. Also compared were the relative density and mechanical properties of the parts obtained after sintering. Microstructures were examined via scanning electron microscopy in order to obtain a deeper understanding of the effect of fabrication temperature.
Freeform Extrusion Fabrication of Titanium Fiber Reinforced Bioactive Glass Scaffolds
(University of Texas at Austin, 2015) Thomas, Albin; Kolan, Krishna C.R.; Leu, Ming C.; Hilmas, Gregory E.
Although implants made with bioactive glass have shown promising results for bone repair, their application in repairing load-bearing long bones is limited due to their low fracture toughness and fairly fast degradation response in vivo. In this paper, we describe our investigation of freeform extrusion fabrication of silicate based 13-93 bioactive glass scaffolds reinforced with titanium fibers. A composite paste was prepared with 13-93 bioactive glass filled with titanium fibers (~16 µm in diameter and aspect ratio of ~250) having a volume fraction of 0.4 vol. %. This paste was then extruded to fabricate scaffolds with an extrudate diameter of about ~0.8 mm. The sintered scaffolds, with and without titanium fibers, had measured pore sizes ranging from 400 to 800 µm and a porosity of ~50%. Scaffolds produced with 0.4 vol. % titanium fibers were measured to have a fracture toughness of ~0.8 MPa•m1/2 and a flexural strength of ~15 MPa. Bioactive glass scaffolds without titanium fibers had a toughness of ~ 0.5 MPa•m1/2 and strength of ~10 MPa. The addition of titanium fibers increased the fracture toughness of the scaffolds by ~70% and flexural strength by ~40%. The scaffolds’ biocompatibility and their degradation in mechanical properties, in vitro were assessed by immersing the scaffolds in a simulated body fluid over a period of one to four weeks.
Optimal Rastering Orientation in Freeform Extrusion Fabrication Processes
(University of Texas at Austin, 2015) Ghazanfari, Amir; Li, Wenbin; Leu, Ming C.; Landers, Robert G.
Many researchers have tried to optimize the build direction of additively manufactured parts to minimize the vertical staircase effect. However, the horizontal staircase effect should also be considered when fully dense parts are to be fabricated. In this paper, part inaccuracy due to the horizontal staircase effect is considered in order to determine the optimal rastering orientation in building the part. An algorithm is developed to estimate this inaccuracy and a technique is proposed to minimize it. The effect of rastering orientation on staircase errors is examined, and the particle swarm optimization method is used to determine the optimum rastering angle that leads to minimum errors for each layer. Several case studies are considered where the staircase errors are calculated with and without optimizing the rastering orientation. The results show that the errors can be reduced considerably when using the optimal rastering orientation. To verify the analytical results, parts are fabricated using a freeform extrusion fabrication process at various angles and the errors are compared.
Planning Freeform Extrusion Fabrication Processes with Consideration of Horizontal Staircase Effect
(University of Texas at Austin, 2015) Ghazanfari, Amir; Li, Wenbin; Leu, Ming C.; Landers, Robert G.
An algorithm has been developed to estimate the “horizontal” staircase effect and a technique is proposed to reduce this type of geometrical error for freeform extrusion fabrication processes of 3D “solid” parts. The adaptive rastering technique, proposed in this paper, analyzes the geometry of each layer and changes the width of each line of the raster adaptively in order to reduce the staircase error and increase the productivity simultaneously. For each line, the maximum width that results in a staircase error smaller than a predefined threshold is determined for decreasing the fabrication time or increasing the dimensional accuracy, or both. To examine the efficacy of the proposed technique, examples are provided in which staircase errors and fabrication times are compared between uniform and adaptive rastering methods for each part. The results show a considerable improvement in accuracy and/or fabrication time for all parts studied when using the adaptive rastering technique.