A 3D Printed Toolbox for Opto-Mechanical Components

Nowadays is very common to find headlines in the media where it is stated that 3D printing is a technology called to change our lives in the near future. For many authors, we are living in times of a third industrial revolution. Howerver, we are currently in a stage of development where the use of 3D printing is advantageous over other manufacturing technologies only in rare scenarios. Fortunately, scientific research is one of them. Here we present the development of a set of opto-mechanical components that can be built easily using a 3D printer based on Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) and parts that can be found on any hardware store. The components of the set presented here are highly customizable, low-cost, require a short time to be fabricated and offer a performance that compares favorably with respect to low-end commercial alternatives.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure

Оценка прогнозируемой эффективности декомпозиции изделия при его послойном изготовлении

Представлены результаты исследования влияния структурной обратимой декомпозиции изделия на рациональное использование рабочего пространства послойного построения установки аддитивных технологий. Выполнялось исследование возможностей оценки прогнозируемой эффективности применения декомпозиции на основе статистического анализа распределения элементарных объемов (воксельной 3D-модели) изделия по подпространствам, получаемым путем разбиения рабочего пространства. Апробация оценки и предложенных показателей осуществлялась на основе моделей промышленных изделий.The results of a study of the effect of structural reversible decomposition of product on rational use of workspace volume of additive manufacturing plant are presented. The evaluation possibilities of predicted efficiency of the decomposition on the basis of statistical analysis of the distribution of elementary volumes (voxel 3D-model) of product on subspaces obtained by dividing the workspace were investigated. Testing of evaluation and proposed indicators was carried out on the basis of industrial product models

Nanostructured ceramics based ON ZrO2, obtained by additive technology

The aim of this work was to study nanostructured powders based on ZrO2 and analyzing the properties of thermoplastic pastes for 3D printing of experimental samples. Data on structure and properties of the nanopowders were obtained. Using the method of Fusing Deposition Modeling were obtained ceramic samples

weight reduction by topology optimization of an engine subframe mount designed for additive manufacturing production

Abstract Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies are getting more and more strategic for different purposes in many industrial fields. Among the most outstanding are part prototyping, single part to small batch production, relatively reduced manufacturing times and investments costs, reduced material consumption, and innovative and efficient shapes. The considerable advantages these technologies offer, compared to subtractive ones, make additive manufacturing a potentially industry-leading process in almost all domains - from aeronautics to the medical industry. Under these circumstances, the inspiration given by topology optimization tools can lead to feasible industrial parts, with fewer constraints in comparison to traditional manufacturing processes. The paper presents the development and the results obtained using topology optimization and design for AM technology on an automotive part: an engine mount sub-frame component for a rear middle engine sports car. The final design enables a significant weight reduction

Study of Metal/Polymer Interface of Parts Produced by a Hybrid Additive Manufacturing Approach

Acknowledgments This research work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and Centro2020 through the Project reference: UID/Multi/04044/2013, PAMI - ROTEIRO/0328/2013 (Nº 022158) and Portuguese National Innovation Agency (ANI) through the Project reference POCI-01-0247-FEDER-017963, NEXT.parts – Next Generation of Advanced Hybrid Parts (co-promotion nº 17963).The additive manufacturing of multimaterial parts, e.g. metal/plastic, with functional gradients represents for current market demands a great potential of applications [1]. Metal Polymer parts combine the good mechanical properties of the metals with the low weight characteristics, good impact strength, good vibration and sound absorption of the polymers. Nevertheless, the coupling between metal and polymers is a great challenge since the processing factors for each one of them are very different. In addition, a system that makes the hybrid processing - metal/polymer - using only one operation is unknown [2, 3]. To overcome this drawback, a hybrid additive manufacturing system based on the additive technologies of SLM and SL was recently developed by the authors. The SLM and SL techniques joined enabling the production of a photopolymerization of the polymer in the voids of a 3D metal mesh previously produced by SLM [4]. The purpose of this work is the study on the metal/polymer interface of hybrid parts manufactured from the hybrid additive manufacturing system [5]. For this, a core of tool steel (H13) and two different types of photopolymers: one elastomeric (BR3D-DL-Flex) and another one rigid (BR3D-DL-Hard) are considered. A set of six samples for each one of metal core/polymer combination was manufactured and submitted to tensile tests.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Manufacturing Space Homogeneity in Additive Manufacturing – Electron Beam Melting Case

International audienceThis paper focuses on the homogeneity of the manufacturing space of the EBM (Electron Beam Melting) technology. An Arcam AB A1 machine is used as tool for experimentations, with titanium (Ti-6Al-4V) as material. The objective of this study is to show the correlation between workpieces geometrical deformations and their position in the manufacturing space. Results show that the position on Z-axis does not affect quality, but there is a strong link in the Z-plane: significant defects appear near the manufacturing space boundaries. First manufactured layers are deformed in the vicinities of the manufacturing space edges. Up to 3mm of material loss and 8mm of dimensional deformation are measured. Further analyses point that this phenomenon is particularly related to a sintering variation in the powder: there are up to 3% density difference from the centre to borders. To avoid the problem, reduction of the manufacturing space and a supporting strategy are proposed. Defects can also be removed by implementing thermal insulation on the machine or by modifying the beam operation

Feasibility study of vacuum technology integrated fused deposition modeling to reduce staircase effect

Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is currently one of the most used AM technologies and has been around in various industries since its tremendous offering. Most semi-molten layered thermoplastic surface often uneven, which lead to rough and poor surface finish. The FDM process involves temperature gradient since the material extrude was in a semi-molten state. The thermal stresses present and affect the surface quality. This paper proposes an idea of using vacuum technology to reduce the “staircase effect” parts printed. The FDM machine remains in a rectangular acrylic chamber, an oil-flooded-vacuum pump connected will absorb the air inside the chamber until desire pressure while printing object. Mitutoyo SJ-301 portable surface roughness tester and optical microscope used to analyze the quality of surface finish. Result reveal with vacuum technology, improve 9% from normal print.Keywords: fused deposition modeling; simulation; vacuum technology; surface finis

The potential of additive manufacturing in the smart factory industrial 4.0: A review

Additive manufacturing (AM) or three-dimensional (3D) printing has introduced a novel production method in design, manufacturing, and distribution to end-users. This technology has provided great freedom in design for creating complex components, highly customizable products, and efficient waste minimization. The last industrial revolution, namely industry 4.0, employs the integration of smart manufacturing systems and developed information technologies. Accordingly, AM plays a principal role in industry 4.0 thanks to numerous benefits, such as time and material saving, rapid prototyping, high efficiency, and decentralized production methods. This review paper is to organize a comprehensive study on AM technology and present the latest achievements and industrial applications. Besides that, this paper investigates the sustainability dimensions of the AM process and the added values in economic, social, and environment sections. Finally, the paper concludes by pointing out the future trend of AM in technology, applications, and materials aspects that have the potential to come up with new ideas for the future of AM explorations

Multi-disciplinary approach in engineering education: learning with additive manufacturing and reverse engineering

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to report an interdisciplinary, cooperative-learning project in a second-year course within the "Enzo Ferrari" Master of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering. The work aims to raise awareness of the educational impact of additive manufacturing and reverse engineering. Design/methodology/approach - Students are asked to develop, concurrently, the design and the manufacturing solution for an eye-tracker head mount. A digital head model is reverse engineered from an anatomical mannequin and used as an ergonomic mock-up. The project includes prototype testing and cost analysis. The device is produced using additive manufacturing techniques for hands-on evaluation by the students. Findings - Results of the presented case study substantiate the authors' belief in the tremendous potential of interdisciplinary project-based learning, relying on innovative technologies to encourage collaboration, motivation and dynamism. Originality/value - The paper confirms a spreading conviction that the soon-to-be engineers will need new practice-oriented capabilities to cope with new competitive scenarios. Engineering education must adapt to the social, rather than industrial, revolution that is being brought about by additive fabrication