The additive manufacture (AM) of high-temperature thermosetting resins would enable rapid functional prototyping and on-demand production of high-performance aircraft parts; however, limitations of current feedstock materials have prevented AM of such parts to date. The use of liquid crystalline thermosets could overcome several critical challenges in fused deposition modeling, such as tuning the rheology during print and cure to improve mechanical properties of printed parts. The shear-alignment of liquid crystal domains by the nozzle could also allow for the controlled design of anisotropic properties. Here, thermosetting systems (epoxies, polyimides) are studied with respect to AM processing. Crosslink topology is controlled using several curing agents to tune the rheology and gelation time. We study the cure reaction in detail using in situ methods including FTIR, Raman, X-ray scattering, XPCS, and rheology, and using machine learning for data analysis.

Development of liquid crystalline thermosets for additive manufacturing

2019 Fall National Meeting

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