Implementation of 3D printers in modern manufacturing has been revolutionary, allowing for rapid prototyping and testing of models in minimal time compared to traditional manufacturing methods. While there are many different printers available on the market currently, there are some shortcomings when it comes to the application of these devices in the hard sciences (eg. chemistry and biology) due to most 3D printers requiring materials to come in standard form. Thus, there is currently a need for the ability to rapidly prototype experimental, thermoplastic materials. Therefore, the development of a printer capable of successfully extruding material that does not come in standard form would open the door to new applications in various scientific fields.<br/>To address this problem, we developed a 3D printer capable of printing thermoplastic powder materials through a process of powder melt extrusion (PME). The final prototype of our PME printer was found to be capable of printing a variety of powders ranging from commercially available to experimentally developed thermoplastic polymers. Commercially available polymers such as polylactic acid (PLA), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), and high impact polystyrene (HIPS) were able to be used to print 3D objects by PME without major changes in the mechanical properties of the print compared to prints from a fused filament fabrication (FFF) printer. Results of the thermal and mechanical analyses of printed objects from these two printers (PME vs. FFF) indicated that there were only minor differences in the thermal and viscoelastic properties of the printed parts, but it was found that the bulk tensile properties of the PME printed object’s properties were affected greatly by the non-perfect uniformity of the printed layers. These results then indicate that, in the future, PME could be used in many of the same applications that FFF is used in, but also, open up the possibility of a wider platform for print material design than FFF currently does.  The development of the PME 3D printer opens the door to the concept of rapidly prototyping thermoplastic materials for new applications or purposes.

Engineering of specialized 3D printer for rapid prototyping of thermoplastic materials

2019 Spring National Meeting

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