Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Feasibility Of Using 3d Printed Molds For Thermoforming Thermoplastic Composites, Sunil Bhandari

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents a novel combined experimental and numerical mechanics approach for characterizing 3D printed thermoplastic materials by the fused deposition modeling process for thermoforming thermoplastic composites. The implications of this work are:

1. a methodology for model-based performance evaluation of 3D printed structural parts, and
2. an improved design of 3D printed molds for composites manufacturing, which has potential for material innovations and scaled-up applications in additive manufacturing.

The thesis formulates basic criteria for selection of thermoplastic polymer used for the 3D printed mold based on forming temperatures. The thesis creates a lattice and shell finite element model of the 3D …

Natural Fibers And Fiberglass: A Technical And Economic Comparison, Justin Andrew Zsiros

Theses and Dissertations

Natural fibers have received attention in recent years because of their minimal environmental impact, reasonably good properties, and low cost. There is a wide variety of natural fibers suitable for composite applications, the most common of which is flax. Flax has advantages in tensile strength, light weight, and low cost over other natural fibers. As with other natural and synthetic fibers, flax is used to reinforce both thermoset and thermoplastic matrices. When flax is used in thermoplastic matrices, polypropylene and polyethylene are the main resins used. Although at first glance flax may seem to be a cheaper alternative to fiberglass, …

A Gasless Method Of Spraying Thermoplastic Resin, Dan T. Rogers

Theses and Dissertations

This spraying method for thermoplastic resins is a new manufacturing process for applying thermoplastics to a mold or surface in an efficient way that has the potential of reducing cycle time. Spraying thermoplastic resins is similar to spraying other polymers, such as paint, with the differences being higher pressure and temperature. This method uses an injection molding machine with a modified nozzle to spray the plastic material. In this study, temperature, pressure, and nozzle size were factors that influenced the success of this spraying method. The method of spraying in this study proved spraying without a gas is possible, a …