Material Strength in Polymer Shape Deposition Manufacturing
Abstract
Shape Deposition Manufacturing (SDM) is a layered manufacturing process involving an
iterative combination of material addition and material removal. Polymer SDM processes have
used castable thermoset resins to build a variety of parts. The strength of such parts is determined
by the bulk material properties of the part materials and by their interlayer adhesion. This paper
describes tensile testing of three thermoset resins used for SDM - two polyurethane resins and one
epoxy resin. Both monolithic specimens and specimens with two interlayer !nterfaces were tested.
Interlayer tensile strengths were found to vary greatly among the three matenals, from 5-40 MPa.