Engineering Commons^™

Redesign Of Cubesat For Beam Charging, Kuba Preis

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

This paper is intended to be a study in the applications of the design freedom granted by additive manufacture in the design of a 1U CubeSat frame. The main loads experienced by a CubeSat are structural (during launch) and thermal (solar radiation). Beam charging is an emerging technology which involves charging a CubeSat using a laser beam. In this paper, a CubeSat frame was redesigned to account for the structural loads induced during launch and the thermal loads induced when beam charging. The thermal, weight, design, and structural requirements for a new CubeSat design were derived. The 1U CubeSat frame …

Additive Manufacturing Powder Removal: Viper 2.0, Andrew D. Epperson, Sean Mccracken, Melissa O'Neil, Alex Ward

Mechanical Engineering

This report presents the final design review of this senior project team. The project is being sponsored by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, a federal design agency. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is interested in improving their metal additive manufacturing process. The goal of this senior project is to improve the efficiency and safety of a method currently being used to remove metal powders for additively manufactured components. A senior project team in 2017-2018 created the Vibration Induced Powder Evacuator and Reclaimer (VIPER), a device that uses a vibration motor to shake a printed part until it is clean from excess powder. …

Fabrication And Characterization Of Collagen-Polypyrrole Constructs Using Direct-Ink Write Additive Manufacturing, Rooshan Arshad

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Current efforts in the tissue engineering field are being directed towards the creation of platforms which will facilitate in instructing cells towards biologically relevant outcomes such as stem cell differentiation and disease pathophysiology. Traditional fabrication methods serve as a limiting factor for the production of such platforms as they lack feature and geometric complexity. Additive Manufacturing (AM) offers advantage over said methods by affording designers creative freedom and great control over printed constructs. Such constructs can then be used to create appropriate models for study- ing a plethora of tissues and structures. An AM methodology for Direct-Ink Write (DIW) printing …

Development And Testing Of Additively Manufactured Aerospike Nozzles For Small Satellite Propulsion, Isaac W. Armstrong

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Automatic altitude compensation has been a holy grail of rocket propulsion for decades. Current state-of-the-art bell nozzles see large performance decreases at low altitudes, limiting rocket designs, shrinking payloads, and overall increasing costs. Aerospike nozzles are an old idea from the 1960’s that provide superior altitude-compensating performance and enhanced performance in vacuum, but have survivability issues that have stopped their application in satellite propulsion systems. A growing need for CubeSat propulsion systems provides the impetus to study aerospike nozzles in this application. This study built two aerospike nozzles using modern 3D metal printing techniques to test aerospikes at a size …

Design Of A Scara Based Mobile 3d Printing Platform, Zachary Hyden

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Currently 3D printers rely heavily on people to run them, there is no automatic way to start a new print after one has finished. On top of this 3D printers are limited in the area they can print on. Even though the additive manufacturing market is rapidly growing and is increasingly being used in product manufacturing there has yet to be a solution to this problem. This research proposes using mobile 3D printing robots to solve both of these issues. The proposed prototype utilizes a Selective Compliance Assembly Robot Arm (SCARA) based robot capable of cooperatively manufacturing parts. This allows …

Torch Mounted Wire Nipper, Steven D. Patrick, Matt Montgomery, Ben Rouse, Garrett D. Foust

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Investigation Of Thermoplastic Polymers And Their Blends For Use In Hybrid Rocket Combustion, Spencer D. Mathias

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This thesis set out to find a blend of thermoplastics that had better combustion properties than the current ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) plastic or “Lego ^TM plastic” used by Utah State University. The current work is in an effort to eliminate toxic propellants from small space applications. High and low density polyethylene plastics were used because they are common plastic waste items. In this way rocket fuel can be made from these items to reduce the waste found in landfills. Three plastics were considered for replacement and as mixture components with the ABS plastic, namely low and high density polyethylene, …

The Influence Of Process Variables On Physical And Mechanical Properties In Laser Powder Bed Fusion, Joshua Robert Koepke, Bradley Jared, Yu-Lin Shen

Mechanical Engineering ETDs

Laser powder bed fusion additive manufacturing consists of a process that incorporates many process variables into fabricating parts. This study investigated several of these process variables and determined their influence on part properties. The process variables investigated include laser power, velocity, focus offsets, layer thickness, and powder particle size. Physical properties will be compared including surface roughness, form, and density. Tensile testing provided mechanical properties including unloading Young’s modulus, ultimate tensile strength, yield strength, uniform elongation, and ductility. Process maps will be developed that will provide recommendations for these process settings. It will be shown that these laser settings can …

Dynamic Mechanical Response Of Additively Manufactured 316l And Alsi10mg, Kristofer Kuelper

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

Additive manufacturing (AM), or 3D printing, is a layer by layer method for the fabrication of end use parts. Its utilization in the production of metallic materials, while relatively new, is promising as an alternative technique to build custom or small batch parts with much greater agility than traditional manufacturing methods. The laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) AM technique offers a combination of high geometric accuracy and good mechanical properties for a variety of materials even without post-processing. It can do this by adjusting a number of processing parameters including the intensity of the laser and the thickness of the …

Investigation Of Multiple Torch Paw-Based Additive Manufacturing, Nathan Huft

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

PAW Print 3D (PP3D), a wire and arc additive manufacturing (AM) system was developed. PP3D comprises three plasma arc welding torches arranged radially around a central wire feed. Using three torches was hypothesized to eliminate sensitivity to travel direction. Two deposition modes were developed – continuous, which deposited continuous beads, and dabber, which deposited discreet “dabs” of material. Dabber was hypothesized to provide favorable solidification conditions that would refine the as-deposited grain structure. Three sets of process parameters for each deposition mode were developed. Ineffective workpiece melting was observed and investigated during process development. Using COMSOL Multiphysics software and experimental …

Manufacture Of Fused Deposition Modeling Joints Using Ultem 9085, Zane A. Willburn

Theses and Dissertations

The manufacture of joints between a base structure and a structure manufactured via Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) will be investigated. ULTEM 9085, a high temperature plastic with potential aerospace applications, will be the material used. The specific application this research is focused on is a robotic and mobile FDM printer capable of building structures onto other structures in space. A joint will be formed by fusing the base layer of the printed structure and the top of the base structure together. Tensile testing will be performed to determine the strength of the bond between parts. Tensile specimens will be manufactured …

Fracture Toughness And Fatigue Crack Growth Rate Characterization Of Inconel 718 Formed By Laser Powder Bed Fusion, Charles C. Hohnbaum

Theses and Dissertations

Continuing improvement in the field of AM of metals provides the opportunity for direct fabrication of aerospace parts. AM was once used in large part for rapid prototyping but improvements in technology and increases in the knowledge base of AM materials has provided the opportunity for manufacture of AM parts for operational use. The ability to create low numbers of unique parts without having to invest in expensive tooling provides great economic incentive to utilize this technique. IN718 is the most common high temperature alloy used in the aerospace industry and lends itself readily to formation by LPBF. The superior …

Process Parameter Development Of Additively Manufactured Af9628 Weapons Steel, Erin M. Hager

Theses and Dissertations

The manufacture of components in Additive Manufacturing processes is limited by the range of materials available. Qualification of materials for Additive Manufacturing is time intensive, and is often specific to a single type of machine. In this study, an approach to selecting power, speed, and hatch spacing values for a newly powderized material, AF9628 weapons steel, is described that results in highly dense (>99.9%) parts on an MLab 200R Cusing. Initial power and speed values used in a weld track study were selected based on a survey of parameters used on similar materials, with a focus on the energy …

Direct Laser Metal Deposition Of Nickel Based Superalloys, Abhishek Ramakrishnan-Sudha

Wayne State University Dissertations

Nickel-based superalloys are substantially used in the manufacturing of boilers for ultra-supercritical power plants and gas turbine hot-section as this grade of alloys provide higher yield strength with the rise in operating temperature and pressure owing to the presence of γʹ second phase precipitates. Conventionally, casting techniques such as centrifugal casting, investment casting, vacuum molding and several other casting based methods are used to fabricate the hot-section components. Nevertheless, a need for designing advanced materials with complex designs such as geometry, microstructure control, compositional changes, microstructure and property varying with the location as in functionally graded materials is not viable …

Development Of Actuators Using Material Extrusion Additive Manufacturing With Embedded Shape Memory Alloy Wire, Alfonso Fernandez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Over the past several decades, the advancements in Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies have opened a wide variety of applications where AM can be used. Some examples of these advancements are the introduction of automatic wire embedding capabilities, the introduction of multi-material processing and the printing of thermoplastic elastomers. With the availability of these advancements, it is now possible to create spark-free, dust-free actuation mechanisms for applications where it is crucial that no spark is generated (i.e. space shuttle fuel valve).

In this research, a Lulzbot TAZ 6 desktop material extrusion system was utilized to print parts out of Plasticized Copolymer …

Investigating Using Titanium Zirconium Molybdenum For Additively Manufacturing Aerospace Components, Justin Hunter Vanhoose

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Mankind throughout history has possessed an innate characteristic to explore, migrating to new frontiers.The requirement for this travel is most broadly associated with the need to pursue more resources. Rockets have been used as a means of weapons since the Sung Dynasty in the thirteenth empire and have now been integrated for travel/transport. The sophistication of rocketry and propulsion has reached a level to where it is plausible that mankind will be a multi-planetary species. The space industry has grown significantly with the advancement of the sophistication of these rocket technologies. However, a specific challenge to overcome in the space …

In Situ Selective Nitriding Using An Open Source Laser Powder Bed Fusion System, Andres Gerardo Navarro

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Conventional forms of nitriding titanium limit the locations to surfaces, limiting applications to simple coatings. Additive manufacturing methods provide the opportunity for surface coating methods to be utilized in a layer by layer fabrication method and increase the uses of nitrides. Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) in particular, provides a fabrication environment with sufficient energy to allow for material nitriding as well as the flexibility of being able to utilize a variety of materials and shielding gases for processing. This project utilizes an AconityONE open source LPBF system with custom laser parameter settings to fabricate and nitride Ti-6Al-4V substrates. This …

Direct Write 3d Printing Of Functional Ceramics, Jorge Angel Diaz

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Humidity sensors are used in many industries and are important for ensuring quality and safety. Ceramic sensors are preferred because of their quick response time, ability to withstand high temperatures and excellent Chemical and mechanical stability. The manufacturing world has been moving toward additive manufacturing which is a form of synthesizing 3D tangible layer by layer in witch minimal waste is produced. Additive manufacturing also is known as 3D printing has opened new possibilities to design engineers by giving them design freedom and access to the layers of a part to allow embedded sensors. There is a category of ceramics …

Impact Of Temperature And Screw Speed On Material Meso-Structure And Tensile Strength In Large Area Pellet-Fed Additive Manufacturing, Xavier Jimenez Guzman

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Evolution in additive manufacturing, specifically in material extrusion, has resulted in large-scale machines capable of extruding thermoplastic-matrix composite materials in higher volumes to fabricate products for large-scale applications. As with small- and medium-scale material extrusion, the properties of the final product often correlate directly with the bevy of print parameters employed. The current research was performed to evaluate the effects of the screw speed and temperature on an ABS 20%wt. carbon fiber thermoplastic processed on a Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM, Cincinnati Inc) machine. Five screw speeds (50, 150, 250, 350 and 400 rpm) and three extruder temperature profiles were …