Manufacturing Commons^™

Feasibility And Characterization Of Leak-Tight Single-Track Thin Walls Produced By Laser Powder Bed Fusion In 316l Stainless Steel, Peyton J. Archibald

Master's Theses

This thesis explores the optimization of process parameters for producing single-track thin walls using Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) additive manufacturing. Using two different coupon designs, the study assesses the feasibility of creating the thinnest possible leak-tight structures within LPBF and evaluating their mechanical properties, including burst pressure and modulus of elasticity under pressure loads. A series of experimental iterations were conducted, varying laser power and laser speed to identify optimal conditions. The findings indicate that a narrow range of process parameters can produce consistently leak-tight thin walls. The results contribute to understanding how to achieve high quality, reliable thin …

Additive Manufacturing For Medical Education, Michael Noon

College of Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Program

A growing body of evidence is suggesting that anatomical knowledge, the keystone of many medical specialties, is suffering among new graduates. While a host of reasons are provided, one common thread that many point to is the decline of cadaver dissections in the classroom. Many virtual audio-visual tools are used to address this gap, yet evidence has shown their ineffectiveness. Given this gap, the high degree of flexibility found in additive manufacturing (AM), and the many uses AM has already found in the medical field, we propose its use to fill this gap, allowing for students to learn with touch …

Med-Drop Pill Dispenser, Cole Pike, Taylor Morris, Christopher Bruni, Jose Gomez

Mechanical Engineering

Veterans’ Affairs home care nurses currently spend anywhere from thirty minutes to two hours filling out monthly prescriptions one pill at a time to veterans who are unable to leave their homes. The goal of this project was to create an easy-to-use device that could be left at a patient’s home that nurses could use to quickly and accurately dispense medication into the patient’s monthly pill box.

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 …

Mechanical Characterization Of Selectively Laser Melted 316l Stainless Steel Body Centered Cubic Unit Cells And Lattice Of Varying Node Radii And Strut Angle, Christopher James Hornbeak

Master's Theses

An experimental study of several variants of radius and strut angle of the body centered cubic unit cell was performed to determine the mechanical properties and failure mechanisms of the mesostructure. Quasi static compression tests were performed on an Instron® universal testing machine with a 50kN load cell at 0.2mm/min. The test samples were built using a SLM Solutions 125 selective laser melting machine with 316L stainless steel. Test specimens were based on 5mm cubic unit cells, with a strut diameter 10% of the unit cell size, with skins on top and bottom to provide a cantilever boundary constraint. Specimens …

Defect Detection In Selective Laser Melting, Moira Foster

Master's Theses

Additively manufactured parts produced using selective laser melting (SLM) are prone to defects created during the build process due to part shrinkage while cooling. Currently defects are found only after the part is removed from the printer. To determine whether cracks can be detected before a print is completed, this project developed print parameters to print a test coupon with inherent defects – warpage and cracking. Data recorded during the build was then characterized to determine when the defects occurred.

The test coupon was printed using two sets of print parameters developed to control the severity of warpage and cracking. …

Development Of An Additive Manufacturing Compression Molding Process For Low Cost In-House Prototyping, Grant Forrester Warden

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Composite parts can be manufactured using various processes. Generally, a mix of resin and fiber is formed into the desired geometry using a mold and pressure. One process used by Dr. Joseph Mello in his research is known as compression molding. Compression molds are generally made from large billets of aluminum or stainless steel, are machined by a CNC mill, and are then hand-finished with polishes and mold preparation products. This process is expensive, requires large machinery and experienced operators, and introduces long lead times relative to the design cycle of the part being manufactured. The nature of Dr. Mello's …

Effect Of Composition And Build Direction On Additively Manufactured Hastelloy X Alloys, Justin A. Spitzer, Jeffrey T. Schloetter, Sarah Zerga

Materials Engineering

Microcracking has caused premature failure and reduction in properties in additively manufactured (AM) Hastelloy X. The purpose of this research is to meet or exceed the mechanical properties of wrought Hastelloy X by modifying the composition and build direction of Hastelloy X manufactured using Direct Metal Deposition (DMD). Tensile testing, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and metallography were performed on the samples. ANOVA was used to analyze the dependence that the properties had on build direction and composition. The nominal composition wrought samples had a yield strength of 310.1 MPa and a 60.79% Elongation. Alloy P60-X18 in a horizontal build had …

Revolutionized Additive Manufacturing, Matthew Walker, Winthrop Townsend, Luca Fuller

Mechanical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Fiber Length Attrition In Additive Manufacturing, Michael Chapiro

Materials Engineering

Chopped carbon fibers are used as reinforcements in thermoplastics, but the viscous shear forces that arise in melt-processing reduces the fiber length well below its critical length resulting in only moderate strength and stiffness gains compared to the neat resin. This research project aimed to experimentally determine the effect of the melt–flow portion of a single-screw- extrusion process on carbon fiber length attrition in isolation from the immediately preceding screw–plastication step that is responsible for most of the heat needed for melting. Carbon fibers with an initial length of 2 mm were stirred into 5,000 centipoise and 10,000 centipoise silicone …

Metals Am Design For Manufacturing, Maren Cosens, Ben Wong, Kevin Hale

Mechanical Engineering

We are looking to improve upon the current post processing techniques for metal additive manufacturing (AM). This project, sponsored by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), will investigate ways to improve the design of stainless steel 316 parts made by AM, and how these designs will help with post processing techniques. We hope that the findings regarding stainless steel will apply to to improve the AM and post processing handshake in general. In particular, the project will focus on including different features in different basic part design shapes to aid in fixturing and post-processing of the part made by AM. This …

Metals Additive Manufacturing Powder Aging Characterization, Thomas Russell Lovejoy, Nicholas Karl Muetterties, David Takeo Otsu

Mechanical Engineering

The metallic additive manufacturing process known as selective laser melting requires highly spherical, normally distributed powder with diameters in the range of 10 to 50 microns. Previous observations have shown a degradation in powder quality over time, resulting in unwanted characteristics in the final printed parts. 21-6-9 stainless steel powder was used to fabricate test parts, with leftover powder recycled back into the machine. Powder samples and test specimens were characterized to observe changes across build cycles. Few changes were observed in the physical and mechanical properties of the specimens, however, there were indications of chemical changes across cycles. Potential …