The team of materials engineers at New York University's Institute of Technology developed composite foam fibers and obtained a process for 3D printing on commercial printers. Image credit: New York University School of Technology
A team of materials scientists from New York University's Institute of Technology has developed the first process for 3D-printed composite foam that can be used in areas such as automotive, aircraft and shipbuilding where material density is low but high strength. This breakthrough enables manufacturers to print components with any complex shape that can withstand stress deeper, so it has a special application prospect for submarines.
Composites are epoxy resin or plastic resin composites mixed with billions of tiny hollow glass or ceramic spheres with excellent buoyancy and strength. They are widely used by James Cameron, Submarines such as the Deepsea Challenger and the next generation Alvin Deep Sea Explorer.
In two papers published by JOM, Nikhil Gupta, an associate professor in the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and his student researchers at the Composites and Mechanics Laboratory of Mechanical Engineering at New York University's Polytechnic Institute, and collaborators in India have all reported that they have developed Composites foam and can be commercial printed with 3D printing.
Currently, composite foam parts are produced by injection molding, and the parts must be joined by adhesives and fasteners that make the parts vulnerable. 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, allows manufacturers to be complex (Such as the car shell and internal structure) to make it tougher and tougher.The team, led by PhD student Ashish Kumar Singh at Gupta, described how they can overcome the barriers to additive manufacturing, such as microsphere mixing The process of grinding and the tendency of the microspheres to clog the printer nozzles, and they also demonstrated the environmental friendliness of the syntactic foam fibers.
Researchers developed high-density polyethylene (HDPE) fibers commonly used in the manufacture of industrial grade components, as well as microspheres made of recycled fly ash (fly ash - the waste by-product of combustion of coal - It is also possible to discharge toxic substances from landfills.
Gupta, who works with colleagues at the National Institute of Technology of Surathkal Karnataka, India (NIT-K), said: "Our focus is to develop a fiber that uses commercial printers for printing without changing the printer hardware. Parameters that affect the printing process A lot, including plate materials, temperatures and printing speeds, and finding the best process parameters is the key to high quality printing.
Ashish Kumar Singh (left), a doctoral student in Nikhil Gupta (right), associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, reports on research advances in composite foam filaments and related processes for 3D printing with commercial printers. Photo credit: New York University School of Technology
Recently Gupta partnered with industry partners to create an online design tool for composite foams that he explained that the hollow spherical particles used in the study were only 0.04 to 0.07 mm in diameter.The combination of size and shape allows the microspheres It can flow through a 1.7 mm 3-D printer nozzle without blocking the flow of material.
He explained that this process required the team to minimize the degree of particle breakage during mixing of the HDPE resin with the frangible hollow particles resulting in a low density fiber.
Singh added: 'We want to add as many hollow particles as possible to make the material lighter, but an increase in the number of particles means that more particles will crack during processing. "Unbroken hollow particles are used in filament manufacturing During the process, or in the subsequent 3-D printing process requires a lot of process control.
In addition to the convenience of the new process in manufacturing complex components, the materials produced by 3-D printing alone have comparable tensile strength and density to those produced by injection molding.
Singh said: "The results show that the composite foam produced by 3D printing is comparable in performance to the same material produced by the most commonly used conventional injection molding."
Gupta said Brooks Saltonstall, undergraduate researcher at New York University's Institute of Technology, Balu Patil and Mrityunjay Doddamani at NIT-K, and visiting student Niklas Hoffmann from the University of Technology in Clausthal, Germany, This group will now focus on optimizing material properties for a variety of applications, such as underwater vehicles capable of operating at specific depths.
JOM Journal: "Composite foam - Part 1: R & D of fibers, performance and recycling potential; Composite foam - Part 2: Sample printing and characterization of mechanical properties.