Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

In Situ Process Monitoring And Machine Learning Based Modeling Of Defects And Anomalies In Wire-Arc Additive Manufacturing, Eduardo Miramontes

Masters Theses

Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) has made great strides in recent years however, there remain numerous persistent challenges still hindering more widespread adoption. Defects in the parts produced degrade their mechanical performance. Inconsistency in the geometry of the weld beads or undesirable anomalies such as waviness, or humps can lead to loss of geometric accuracy and in extreme cases, when anomalies propagate to subsequent layers, build failure. Such defects can be mitigated by a controls framework, which would require a model that maps undesirable outcomes to information about the process that can be obtained in real time. This thesis explores …

Consumer 3d Printing For Remote Control Aircraft Wings: Development Of Novel Wingbox Structure, Ian Clark

University Honors Theses

Remote control aircraft construction and can be a very expensive and time-consuming hobby. With 3D printer consumer adoption rates skyrocketing, there is a gap between demand for RC aircraft and suitable well-designed models available to creators and hobbyists. By creating and testing two iterations of wingbox geometries, this research aims to help close that gap by producing an easily printable wing structure. While there are improvements that can be made on this work, this research has been effective in generating a novel wingbox structure for FFF 3D printing that has distinct advantages over other designs currently available.

Cycle Time Reduction In Additive Manufacturing Using Peltier Thermoelectric Cooling Devices, Trevor Carlton

Honors College Theses

Thermoelectric cooling and the Peltier effect were discovered in 1834, over 188 years ago. Additionally, the first iterations of additive manufacturing (i.e., 3D printing) began in the early 1980s, more than 40 years ago. Despite these technologies’ age and years of advancements, the application of Peltier cooling-based devices in additive manufacturing has not yet been realized. These devices can be used for the active thermal management of print beds in 3D printers. Developing a mechanism to heat and cool a print bed can reduce the cycle time to manufacture a part. In 3D printing, waiting for the heated bed to …

Recycled Printer Filament, Charlotte Hyland, Troy D. Molinar

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of this research is to examine the effects of recycling PLA filament for 3D printing on its material properties. After examining these effects, PLA and carbon fiber additives were mixed with recycled PLA pellets in different ratios to attempt to regain material properties lost in the recycling process. To complete these findings, an experiment was design and executed.

The research found that tensile strength during multiple iterations of recycling remained mostly unaffected, however, the strain degraded exponentially. In the PLA additive study, high ratios of PLA additive were able to increase the strength and strain properties of the …

Design For Additive Manufacturing (3d Printing), Michael O'Donnell, Michael J. Levy

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The goal of this project is to study the performance of a 3D printed mechanical part subjected to topology optimization. A part that is somewhat complex in its load bearing and geometry will be selected. That part will then be designed, finite element analysis will be performed on it to optimize its topology, and then it will be 3D printed and tested. The goal of topology optimization is to either save material cost and/or part weight due to the ability of 3D printing to manufacture parts with complex and obscure geometry.

Improvement Of Labyrinth Seal Leakage Rates Using Additive Manufacturing, Austin L. Gasbarra

Master's Theses

The growing popularity of additive manufacturing in commercial applications has al- lowed for new ideas and new ways of thinking when designing components. Further optimization at the component level is possible, though powder metallurgy is in its infancy. This study explores the possibility of using additive manufacturing to develop better labyrinth seals in turbomachinery. Labyrinth seals have a torturous fluid path with high losses, thus limiting the amount of fluid leakage. These types of seals can be non-rotating, allowing them to better take advantage of the additive manufacturing process due to the absence of rotating stresses. Labyrinth seal performance is …

Model-Based Predictive Analytics For Additive And Smart Manufacturing, Zhuo Yang

Doctoral Dissertations

Qualification and certification for additive and smart manufacturing systems can be uncertain and very costly. Using available historical data can mitigate some costs of producing and testing sample parts. However, use of such data lacks the flexibility to represent specific new problems which decreases predictive accuracy and efficiency. To address these compelling needs, in this dissertation modeling techniques are introduced that can proactively estimate results expected from additive and smart manufacturing processes swiftly and with practical levels of accuracy and reliability. More specifically, this research addresses the current challenges and limitations posed by use of available data and the high …