Material extrusion (MatEx) additive manufacturing (AM), after several decades of development, is now an established production method for small volume or highly complicated parts. While MatEx has transitioned from prototyping to end use production, little is known about the mechanisms that dominate strength development between layers. Previously we reported on a framework for determining weld time and weld strength of MatEx processed welds, comparing those results to traditional polymer-polymer weld formation. Here we extend that work by studying bisphenol-A-polycarbonate (PC) and polylactic acid (PLA). In the PC system we vary the molecular weight and compare the welding time and strength with scaling relationships from reptation theory. In the PLA system we investigated changes in crystallization kinetics induced by the material extrusion flow field, comparing to continuum modeling and crystallization theory.

Weld formation of amorphous and semi-crystalline polymers during material extrusion additive manufacturing

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.