Expanding the Applicability of FDM-type Technologies Through Materials Development

Currently, the most common form of additive manufacturing is material extrusion 3D printing (ME3DP) based on fused deposition modeling (FDM®) technology which relies upon a thermoplastic monofilament as a base material for the fabrication of three dimensional objects. The dependence on thermoplastics as a feedstock by ME3DP platforms limits the applicability of this additive manufacturing method. A clear-cut path towards greater applicability is the introduction of novel materials with diverse physical properties which maintain compatibility with 3D printing platforms based on FDM® technology. The work in this paper presents efforts in the development of polymer matrix composites (PMC)s and polymer blends based on acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and polycarbonate (PC), two thermoplastic materials commonly used by FDM®-type platforms. Mechanical testing and fractography via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were the two main metrics used to characterize these new material systems. Overcoming barriers to the manufacturing of these novel 3D-printable materials systems is also presented.Mechanical Engineerin