Brandon Sweeney and Blake Tiepel working in the lab. Credit: Texas A&M University
A doctoral student in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University has developed a method to transform the landscape of 3D printing today by making 3D printed parts 275% stronger and immediately useful in real-world applications. 3D printed objects are comprised of many thin layers of materials, usually plastics, deposited on top of each other to form a desired shape. These layers are prone to fracturing, causing issues with the durability and reliability of the part when used in a real-world application, for example a custom printed medical device.
When Sweeney started his doctorate, he was working with Green in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas Tech University. He had been collaborating with Dr. Mohammad Saed, assistant professor in the electrical and computer engineering department at Texas Tech, on a project to detect carbon nanotubes using microwaves. The trio crafted an idea to use carbon nanotubes in 3D printed parts, coupled with microwave energy to weld the layers of parts together.
Since the layers making up the 3D printed parts are so tiny, special materials are utilized to control where the heat hits and bonds the layers together. “What we do is take 3D printer filament and put a thin layer of our material, a carbon nanotube composite, on the outside,” Sweeney said. “When you print the parts out, that thin layer gets embedded at the interfaces of all the plastic strands. Then we stick it in a microwave, we use a bit more of a sophisticated microwave oven in this research, and monitor the temperature with an infrared camera.”
The technology is patent-pending and licensed with Essentium Materials. The materials are produced in-house, where they have also designed a new 3D printer technology to incorporate the electromagnetic welding process into the 3D printer itself. While the part is being printed, they are welding it at the same time. This has the potential to be on every industrial and consumer 3D printer where strong parts are needed.
They applied the traditional welding concepts and a carbon nanotube composite filament to bond the submillimeter layers in a 3D printed part together with focused microwaves: See a video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6s1aY7tmcU&feature=youtu.be http://engineering.tamu.edu/news/2017/07/19/strengthening-3-d-printed-parts-for-real-world-use
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