20 questions · 1 almanac · 7 findings

Additive Manufacturing

3D printing of functional, composite, and optical materials.

Finding Ceramic Particle Filled Polymer Filaments for FDM 3D Printing
  • How does ceramic loading percentage determine whether a filament yields an enhanced polymer composite or a fully ceramic sintered part?
  • What post-processing steps (debinding and sintering) are required to turn a printed green body into a fully dense ceramic part?
  • What practical challenges do makers face when working with ceramic-filled filaments, including nozzle wear, particle settling, and sintering shrinkage?
Finding Multiscale reduced-order modeling of fused filament fabricated composites
  • How do microscale intrabead voids and mesoscale interbead voids interact to degrade the mechanical performance of FDM-printed carbon fiber composites?
  • Why does mesoscale layer orientation matter for the stress-strain response of printed polycarbonate/short carbon fiber composites?
  • What kind of reduced-order model can capture void defects across microscale and mesoscale length scales in additively manufactured composites?
  • Why do FDM-printed carbon fiber composite parts underperform relative to injection-molded equivalents made from the same material system?
Finding Fabrication and characterization of Fused Deposition Modeling 3D printed mm-scaled metasurfaces
  • How can a household FDM 3D printer be used to fabricate free-standing, millimeter-scale conductive metasurfaces?
  • What method is used to experimentally characterize the electromagnetic performance of 3D printed conductive metasurfaces?
  • What advantages do conductive-filament FDM metasurfaces offer over conventional metasurface fabrication in terms of cost, weight, and environmental impact?
Finding Potential for Natural Fiber Reinforcement in PLA Polymer Filaments for FDM Additive Manufacturing
  • How does alkali (NaOH) surface treatment of natural fibers affect the mechanical properties of PLA composite filaments?
  • What processing and printability challenges arise when incorporating natural fibers into FDM filament, such as moisture content and fiber length?
  • Which natural fiber types are being explored for reinforcing PLA filaments, and how do they compare for FDM applications?
Finding Wood Flour Pretreatment and Toughening Agents in FDM 3D-Printed PLA Biocomposites
  • How does silane coupling agent (KH550) treatment of wood flour compare to acetic anhydride treatment in their effects on the mechanical properties of FDM-printed PLA biocomposites?
  • What practical processing considerations, such as particle size and print speed, affect the quality of FDM-printed wood-PLA filaments?