Fused deposition of ceramics: a comprehensive experimental, analytical and computational study of material behavior, fabrication process and equipment design
Customer-driven product customization and continued demand for cost and time savings have generated a renewed interest in agile manufacturing based on improvements on Rapid Prototyping (RP) technologies. The advantages of RP technologies are: 1. ability to shorten the product design and development time, 2.) suitability for automation and decrease in the level of human intervention, 3.) ability to build many geometrically complex shapes. A shift from âprototypingâ to âmanufacturingâ necessitates the following improvements: flexibility in choice of materials; part integrity and built-in characteristics to meet performance requirements; dimensional stability and tolerances; improved surface finish. A project funded by ONR has been undertaken to develop an agile manufacturing technology for fabrication of ceramic and multi-component parts to meet various needs of the Navy, such as transducers, etc. The project is based on adaptation of a layered manufacturing concept since the program required that the new technology be developed based on a commercially available RP technology. Among various RP technologies available today, Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) has been identified as the focus of this research because of its potential versatility in the choice of materials and deposition configuration. This innovative approach allows for designing and implementing highly complex internal architectures into parts through deposition of different materials in a variety of configurations in such a way that the finished product exhibit characteristics to meet the performance requirements. This implies that, in principle, one can tailor-make the assemble[stet] of materials and structures as per specifications of an optimum design. The program objectives can be achieved only through accurate process modeling and modeling of material behavior. Oftentimes, process modeling is based on some type of computational approach where as modeling of material behavior is based on extensive experimental investigations. Studies are conducted in the following categories: flow modeling during extrusion and deposition; thermal modeling; flow control during deposition; product characterization and property determination for dimensional analysis; and development of a novel technology based on a mini-extrusion system. Studies in each of these stages have involved experimental as well as analytical approaches to develop a comprehensive modeling.Ph.D., Materials Engineering -- Drexel University, 200
