Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Additive Manufacturing Powder Removal, Madison A. Lignell, Tyler W. Laird, Kurt K. Reed

Mechanical Engineering

Metal powder-bed fusion is an additive manufacturing process which enables the creation of unique shapes in metal parts that would otherwise be difficult, expensive, or impossible to machine. Metallic powder is melted and fused together by either a laser or electron beam to produce parts quickly. The excess powder covers newly printed parts and can be difficult to remove from small internal features. The scope of this project is to design a device that effectively removes the powder from newly printed parts safely, while reclaiming as much powder as possible for reuse. The solution for this project must be able …

Microheater Array Powder Sintering (Maps) For Printing Flexible Electronics, Nicholas Holt

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Microheater array powder sintering (MAPS) is a novel additive manufacturing process that uses an array of microheaters to selectively sinter powder particles. MAPS shows great promise as a new method of printing flexible electronics by enabling digital curing of conductive inks on a variety of substrates. MAPS operation relies on establishing a precision air gap of a few microns between an array of microheaters, which can reach temperatures of 600°C, and a layer of conductive ink which can be deposited onto a flexible substrate. This system presents challenges, being: the fabrication of a microheater that can reach suitable temperatures in …

On The Development And Integration Of Pneumatic Extrusion Module And A Methodology To Identify Process Parameters For Additive Manufacturing Using Machine Learning, Kashish Dhal

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

Commonly used additive manufacturing platforms have a single extrusion module based on Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) and their processing software generates G-Codes for this FFF module using defined process parameters. These platforms and software do not accommodate different processing modules such as viscous extruders or Direct Ink Writing (DIW). This research is focused on the development of a Pneumatic Extrusion Module (PEM) capable of dispensing viscous materials such as gels or slurries controlled through a digital pneumatic valve. A PEM is developed, integrated and its performance is evaluated on a multi-modality additive manufacturing platform in the MARS Lab. The operation …

Additive Manufacturing Process Investigation For The Fabrication Of Composite Scaffolds For Soft Tissue Application, Parimal Patel

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

Additive manufacturing has been investigated and employed in the bio-medical domain for the fabrication of various devices and scaffolds. In various soft tissue engineering applications, multi-functional multi-material scaffolds are required for cell proliferation, structural integrity, bio-compatibility and tissue regeneration. In this research, an additive manufacturing methodology is developed to allow the fabrication of bio-composite scaffolds using a multi-modality in-house built platform. The researched materials for printing are Poly-L-Lactic Acid (PLLA) and a newly developed photo-curable radiopaque polymer called Rylar (Poly glycerole sebacate fumarate gadodiamide) mixed with a cross-linking agent Poly (Ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA). The developed methodology uses a Fused …

Predicting Mechanical Behavior Of 3d Printed Structures Using Mechanics Of Composites And Fracture, Megha Tangri

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

Recently, additive manufacturing, or 3D printing as it is more commonly called, has taken a big leap in the manufacturing industry. This technology is rapidly moving from prototyping to manufacturing using metals, polymers, concrete and even composites. Unlike subtractive methods of manufacturing, additive manufacturing can be used to manufacture parts with highly directional mechanical properties. This research focuses on predicting tensile failure of 3D printed polymer structures in different raster orientations using composites lamination theory. Previously it was found experimentally that tensile strengths of 3D printed specimens decrease when raster orientations changes from 0° to 90°. The proposed model developed …

Ultrasonic Nondestructive Evaluation Of Metal Additive Manufacturing., Venkata Karthik Nadimpalli

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Metal Additive Manufacturing (AM) is increasingly being used to make functional components. One of the barriers for AM components to become mainstream is the difficulty to certify them. AM components can have widely different properties based on process parameters. Improving an AM processes requires an understanding of process-structure-property correlations, which can be gathered in-situ and post-process through nondestructive and destructive methods. In this study, two metal AM processes were studied, the first is Ultrasonic Additive Manufacturing (UAM) and the second is Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF). The typical problems with UAM components are inter-layer and inter-track defects. To improve the …

Modeling Residual Stress Development In Hybrid Processing By Additive Manufacturing And Laser Shock Peening, Guru Charan Reddy Madireddy

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The term “hybrid” has been widely applied to many areas of manufacturing. Naturally, that term has found a home in additive manufacturing as well. Hybrid additive manufacturing or hybrid-AM has been used to describe multi-material printing, combined machines (e.g., deposition printing and milling machine center), and combined processes (e.g., printing and interlayer laser re-melting). The capabilities afforded by hybrid-AM are rewriting the design rules for materials and adding a new dimension in the design for additive manufacturing paradigm. This work focuses on hybrid-AM processes, which are defined as the use of additive manufacturing (AM) with one …

Additive Manufacturing Of Transparent Fused Quartz, Junjie Luo, John M. Hostetler, Luke Gilbert, Jonathan T. Goldstein, Augustine M. Urbas, Douglas A. Bristow, Robert G. Landers, Edward C. Kinzel

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper investigates a filament-fed process for additive manufacturing (AM) of fused quartz. Glasses such as fused quartz have significant scientific and engineering applications, which include optics, communications, electronics, and hermetic seals. AM has several attractive benefits such as increased design freedom, faster prototyping, and lower processing costs for small production volumes. However, current research into glass AM has focused primarily on nonoptical applications. Fused quartz is studied here because of its desirability for use in high-quality optics due to its high transmissivity and thermal stability. Fused quartz filaments are fed into a CO₂ laser-generated molten region, smoothly depositing …

Direct Metal Laser-Sintered Stainless Steel: Comparison Of Microstructure And Hardness Between Different Planes, M. Ghasri-Khouzani, H. Peng, R. Attardo, P. Ostiguy, J. Neidig, R. Billo, D. Hoelzle, M. R. Shankar

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Microstructural analysis and micro-hardness measurements were performed on different planes of 316L stainless steel fabricated by direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) technique. A fine cellular network was observed within the steel microstructure, where morphology of most cells changed from columnar on XZ-plane (vertical section) to equiaxed on XY-plane (horizontal section). Correspondingly, morphology of most grains was found to alter from columnar for the XZ-plane to equiaxed in the case of the XY-plane. Moreover, X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis revealed a fully austenitic structure for both the planes. The average micro-hardness value for the XZ-plane and XY-plane was insignificantly (≈ 3%) different, …

Selective Laser Melting Of Ni-Rich Niti: Selection Of Process Parameters And The Superelastic Response, Narges Shayesteh Moghaddam, Soheil Saedi, Amirhesam Amerinatanzi, Ehsan Saghaian, Ahmadreza Jahadakbar, Haluk E. Karaca, Mohammad Elahinia

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Material and mechanical properties of NiTi shape memory alloys strongly depend on the fabrication process parameters and the resulting microstructure. In selective laser melting, the combination of parameters such as laser power, scanning speed, and hatch spacing determine the microstructural defects, grain size and texture. Therefore, processing parameters can be adjusted to tailor the microstructure and mechanical response of the alloy. In this work, NiTi samples were fabricated using Ni_50.8Ti (at.%) powder via SLM PXM by Phenix/3D Systems and the effects of processing parameters were systematically studied. The relationship between the processing parameters and superelastic properties were investigated …

Bio-Mimetic Design With 3d Printable Composites, Ramya Mitra Patnam Damodaram

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Weight and stiffness are key factors in the advancement of materials and parts for use in numerous industries. Lightweight cellular structures are broadly utilized for this reason. However, these structures must satisfy several key constraints: they should be light yet structurally safe, sustainable in different loading conditions, resource efficient and easy to maintain. Bio-inspired materials/structures which results in desirable material features are a significant inspiration for engineered cellular structures. Cellular structures can be designed to have multifunctional properties along with lightweight characteristics. Currently, these structures with high strength to weight ratio are widely applied in many fields such as automotive, …

Impact Of Vapor Polishing On Surface Quality And Mechanical Properties Of Extruded Abs, Clayton Neff, Matthew Trapuzzano, Nathan B. Crane

Faculty Publications

Purpose — Additive manufacturing (AM) is readily capable of producing models and prototypes of complex geometry and is advancing in creating functional parts. However, AM processes typically underperform traditional manufacturing methods in mechanical properties, surface roughness, and hermeticity. Solvent vapor treatments (vapor polishing) are commonly used to improve surface quality in thermoplastic parts, but the results are poorly characterized.

Design/methodology/approach — This work quantifies the surface roughness change and also evaluates the effect on hermeticity and mechanical property impacts for “as-printed” and acetone vapor-polished ABS tensile specimens of 1, 2, and 4 mm thicknesses produced by material extrusion (FDM).

Findings …

Additive Manufacturing Of Multi-Functional Nanocomposites For Sensor And Energy Storage Devices, Hoejin Kim

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The goal of this research is to develop novel 3D printing process and design nanocomposites for piezoelectric and dielectric devices using fused deposition modeling (FDM) and stereolithography (SL) 3D printing techniques for use in sensor and energy storage applications. Techniques for electric and corona assisted in-situ poling during 3D printing were developed to improve the piezoelectric property and ease of manufacture. Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) and barium titanate (BaTiO3, BT) are well-known for their high piezo- and dielectric constants among polymers and ceramics, while multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were introduced to improve efficiency of stress reinforcement and conductivity for charge carriers …

Experimental Laser Powder Bed Fusion System For Difficult To Process Metallic Materials, Syed Zia Uddin

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The focus of this research was twofold, such as development of defect free fabrication parameters for laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) processing of crack prone or difficult to process metallic materials, and study of the temperature dependence of emissivity for some commonly used metal alloy powders in LPBF process. The later objective extends to the implementation of multiwavelength (MW) pyrometer technology for in situ true surface temperature measurement in LPBF process. LPBF is an additive manufacturing (AM) process capable of layer-by-layer manufacturing by successive laser melting of each layer according to CAD data. AM manufacturing has the inherent advantages of …

Layer-To-Layer Physical Characteristics And Compression Behavior Of 3d Printed Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene Metastructures Fabricated Using Different Process Parameters, Sivani Patibandla

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Three-dimensional (3D) printing, a subset of additive manufacturing, is currently being explored heavily for actual part fabrication due to its ability to create complex objects with intricate internal features. There are several 3D printing technologies; however, the extrusion-based technology such as fused deposition modeling (FDM) is the widely used one owing to its low cost. The FDM method can be used to fabricate parts with different fill densities, fill patterns, and process parameters such as extruder temperature and print speed. In this research, influence of process parameters such as extruder temperature and speed on the physical characteristics such as the …

Towards The Fabrication Of Bioresorbable Constructs With Customized Properties Using Additive Manufacturing, Prashanth Ravi

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Additive Manufacturing (AM) has been employed to fabricate medical constructs for over two decades. This dissertation investigates the effects of AM process parameters on raster level geometric features and structural properties of bioresorbable constructs. The development of an open architecture custom multi-process 3D printer employed for fabricating bioscaffolds and test structures is discussed. Bioresorbable polymers including a newly synthesized radiopaque polymer, poly (glycerol sebacate fumarate) gadodiamide (Rylar) and medical grade poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA) were investigated. In the first part, the effects of process parameters on raster geometry were investigated to aid in the fabrication of structures with improved geometric features …

A Design Methodology For Continuous Fiber Additive Manufacturing Using Advanced Computer Aided Engineering Techniques, Nicholas Venter

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

A design methodology for Continuous Carbon Fiber Additive Manufacturing (CCFAM) developed using Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) techniques takes advantage of both the mechanical strength of composite materials and the Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) method. By performing topology optimization and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) on a load-bearing part, engineers can design much lighter optimized parts that are just as strong as those produced using FFF. This weight reduction is achieved by relying on the mechanical strength of continuous carbon fibers printed alongside a traditional thermoplastic matrix. The FFF additive manufacturing method enables the production of complex shapes, which can match the …

Experimental Measurement Of Residual Stress And Distortion In Additively Manufactured Stainless Steel Components With Various Dimensions, M. Ghasri-Khouzani, H. Peng, R. Rogge, R. Attardo, P. Ostiguy, J. Neidig, R. Billo, D. Hoelzle, M. R. Shankar

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Disk-shaped 316L stainless steel parts with various diameters and heights were additively manufactured using a direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) technique. Neutron diffraction was used to profile the residual stresses in the samples before and after removal of the build plate and support structures. Moreover, distortion level of the parts before and after the removal was quantified using a coordinate measuring machine (CMM). Large tensile in-plane stresses (up to ≈ 400 MPa) were measured near the as-built disk top surfaces, where the stress magnitude decreased from the disk center to the edges. The stress gradient was steeper for the disks …

Distributed Manufacturing Of Flexible Products: Technical Feasibility And Economic Viability, Aubrey Woern, Joshua M. Pearce

Department of Materials Science and Engineering Publications

Distributed manufacturing even at the household level is now well established with the combined use of open source designs and self-replicating rapid prototyper (RepRap) 3-D printers. Previous work has shown substantial economic consumer benefits for producing their own polymer products. Now flexible filaments are available at roughly 3-times the cost of more conventional 3-D printing materials. To provide some insight into the potential for flexible filament to be both technically feasible and economically viable for distributed digital manufacturing at the consumer level this study investigates 20 common flexible household products. The 3-D printed products were quantified by print time, electrical …

Note On The Rate And Energy Efficiency Limits For Additive Manufacturing, Timothy Gutowski, Sheng Jiang, Daniel Cooper, Gero Corman, Michael Hausmann, Jan-Anders Manson, Timo Schudeleit, Konrad Wegener, Matias Sabelle, Jorge Ramos-Grez, Dusan P. Sekulic

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

We review the process rates and energy intensities of various additive processing technologies and focus on recent progress in improving these metrics for laser powder bed fusion processing of metals, and filament and pellet extrusion processing of polymers and composites. Over the last decade, observed progress in raw build rates has been quite substantial, with laser metal processes improving by about 1 order of magnitude, and polymer extrusion processes by more than 2 orders of magnitude. We develop simple heat transfer models that explain these improvements, point to other possible strategies for improvement, and highlight rate limits. We observe a …

Building Zr-Based Metallic Glass Part On Ti-6al-4v Substrate By Laser-Foil-Printing Additive Manufacturing, Yingqi Li, Yiyu Shen, Ming-Chuan Leu, Hai-Lung Tsai

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Through using Zr intermediate layers, Zr_52.5Ti₅Al₁₀Ni_14.6Cu_17.9 metallic glass (MG) parts are successfully built on Ti-6Al-4V substrates by laser-foil-printing (LFP) additive manufacturing technology in which MG foils are laser welded layer-by-layer onto the substrate. The printed MG part is free of porosity, cracking and crystallization; additionally, its glass transition temperature, crystallization temperature, micro-hardness, and tensile strength are very similar to the original MG material. The Zr intermediate layers are aimed at preventing direct interaction between the first layer of MG foil and the Ti substrate; otherwise, the welded MG foils would peel …

Additive Manufacturing Of High Solids Loading Hybrid Rocket Fuel Grains, Stephen P. Johnson, Michael Baier, Ibrahim E. Gunduz, Steven F. Son

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Hybrid rocket motors offer many of the benefits of both liquid and solid rocket systems. Like liquid engines, hybrid rocket motors are able to be throttled, can be stopped and restarted, and are safer than solid rocket motors since the fuel and oxidizer are in different physical states. Hybrid rocket motors are similar to solid motors in that they are relatively simple and have a high density-specific impulse. One of the major drawbacks of hybrid rocket motors is a slower burning rate than solid rocket motors. Complex port geometries provide greater burning surface area to compensate for lower burning rates …

Impact Of Diy Home Manufacturing With 3d Printing On The Toy And Game Market, Emily Peterson, Joshua M. Pearce

Department of Materials Science and Engineering Publications

The 2020 toy and game market is projected to be US$135 billion. To determine if 3D printing could affect these markets if consumers offset purchases by 3D printing free designs, this study investigates the 100 most popular downloaded designs at MyMiniFactory in a month. Savings are quantified for using a Lulzbot Mini 3D printer and three filament types: commercial filament, pellet-extruded filament, and post-consumer waste converted to filament with a recyclebot. Case studies probed the quality of: (1) six common complex toys; (2) Lego blocks; and (3) the customizability of open source board games. All filaments analyzed saved the user …

The Intersection Of Manufacturing Technologies And School Music Programs, Leslie Prunier

University Scholar Projects

The objective of this project is to design and manufacture a musical instrument, a marching baritone horn, out of plastic. It is constructed out of both PVC pipe and 3D-printed components. Utilizing this project’s documentation, a high school student could use a 3D printer and other basic tools to make their own musical instrument for a fraction of the cost of purchasing one. This documentation will produce a horn tuned in the key of B flat with one functioning valve, and suggestions for future work to make the other two valves functional as well.

Design Optimization Of Race Car Steering Knuckle For Additive Manufacturing, Yobani Martinez

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

Additive manufacturing enables increased geometric complexity in structural configuration compared with conventional manufacturing methods. A Physics-first Computer Aided engineering (CAE) process beginning with structural topology optimization enables engineers to take advantage of this increased geometric design freedom. This work develops and demonstrates the steps and tools necessary to realize complex design configuration for additive manufactured. This report looks at the race car steering knuckle using the UTA FSAE upright as a case study. The stiffness driven upright component design is executed using topology optimization and NURBS based surface modeling tools. The topology optimization model is developed for 3 different load …

Development Of An Advanced Geometry Toolkit Framework For Fitting Complex Topology-Optimized Mesh Structures, Harshit Girishkumar Jani

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

Additive Manufacturing is playing a significant role in developing complex geometries which are not possible by conventional Manufacturing Processes. Topology optimization is playing key a role in deciding conceptual design for additive manufacturing. The output of topology optimization is rough and noisy surfaces. Fitting these surfaces poses challenging task to a designer as it is a tedious and a time-consuming process. The main aim of this research is to automate the process of smoothing noisy meshes. In this research work, I have developed algorithms in MATLAB to create NURBS (Non-Uniform B-Spline) surface patches from given a set of control points. …

Manufacturing And Characterization Of A 3d-Printable, Antibacterial, Magnesium Oxide Nanoparticles Reinforced Abs Filament, Saket Thapliyal

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

This research work consists of two phases. In phase one it is intended to manufacture an antibacterial 3D printable filament by extruding a solid state mixture of (MgO) nanoparticles (NPs) and Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) pellets. A single screw extruder was used to extrude ABS pellets containing 0, 0.5, 1, 2 and 4 wt. % MgO NP. This phase deals with manufacturing and testing the filament for mechanical properties, antibacterial properties and 3D printability. On one hand tensile strength, ductility and 3D-printabiliy were observed to decrease with increasing concentrations of MgO NP in ABS matrix, on the other hand the …

Variable Oxidation & Defects In Ti-6al-4v Material In Electron Beam Melting Additive Manufacturing, Edward Patton Clark

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Powder-based metal in additive manufacturing (AM) is advantageous for rapid prototyping of parts and components, with the benefit of reusing powder to reduce production costs. A common driver in the aerospace industry is free-form complex geometries which can be created using CAD software to optimize specifications with strength-to-weight ratios in components. Weight optimization of aircraft components using additive manufacturing reduces material, which significantly reduces production cost in comparison to cast and wrought metallic products. Large biomedical and aerospace industries heavily invest in feedstock metal powders that have low density under structural stresses and high temperatures, resulting in superior resistance to …

Process Parameter Optimization With Numerical Modelling And Experimentation Design Of Binder Jet Additive Manufacturing, Sairam Vangapally

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Binder jetting technology is an additive manufacturing technology in which powder materials are binded together layer by layer forming the product from input CAD model. The process involves printing the product layer by layer, curing and sintering. The mechanical properties of 3D printed samples varies based on process parameters, hence there is a need to tune the process parameters for optimal characteristics. Three main parameters namely layer thickness, sintering time and sintering temperature were identified and the study focuses on the effect of parameters on dimensional accuracy and compressive strength of the samples. Full factorial experimental approach was used to …

Process Development And Characterization Of Smart Parts Fabricated Using Powder Bed Fusion Additive Manufacturing Technologies, Mohammad Shojib Hossain

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The fields of modern energy conversion, e.g., fossil fuel, natural gas, and coal power plants, are in increased need of health monitoring and data collection (temperature, pressure, and flow rate) to improve process efficiency and satisfy the demand for clean energy. In situ process monitoring can lead to a robust automated system to achieve the goal. The monitoring equipment or sensors in energy systems components (e.g., pressure tube, turbine blade, and fuel injector) undergo high temperature, high pressure, and corrosive environments; for example, combustion inlet conditions can reach up to 810 K and 2760 kPa [1]. Therefore, a reliable, accurate, …