To read this content please select one of the options below:

Structure and mechanical behavior of Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM) materials

Chad E. Duty (Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA and Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA)
Vlastimil Kunc (Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA)
Brett Compton (Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA)
Brian Post (Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA)
Donald Erdman (Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA)
Rachel Smith (Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, California, USA)
Randall Lind (Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA)
Peter Lloyd (Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA)
Lonnie Love (Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA)

Rapid Prototyping Journal

ISSN: 1355-2546

Article publication date: 16 January 2017

3989

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the deposited structure and mechanical performance of printed materials obtained during initial development of the Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM) system at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Issues unique to large-scale polymer deposition are identified and presented to reduce the learning curve for the development of similar systems.

Design/methodology/approach

Although the BAAM’s individual extruded bead is 10-20× larger (∼9 mm) than the typical small-scale systems, the overall characteristics of the deposited material are very similar. This study relates the structure of BAAM materials to the material composition, deposition parameters and resulting mechanical performance.

Findings

Materials investigated during initial trials are suitable for stiffness-limited applications. The strength of printed materials can be significantly reduced by voids and imperfect fusion between layers. Deposited material was found to have voids between adjacent beads and micro-porosity within a given bead. Failure generally occurs at interfaces between adjacent beads and successive layers, indicating imperfect contact area and polymer fusion.

Practical implications

The incorporation of second-phase reinforcement in printed materials can significantly improve stiffness but can result in notable anisotropy that needs to be accounted for in the design of BAAM-printed structures.

Originality/value

This initial evaluation of BAAM-deposited structures and mechanical performance will guide the current research effort for improving interlaminar strength and process control.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This research was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Advanced Manufacturing Office, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with UT-Battelle, LLC.

Citation

Duty, C.E., Kunc, V., Compton, B., Post, B., Erdman, D., Smith, R., Lind, R., Lloyd, P. and Love, L. (2017), "Structure and mechanical behavior of Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM) materials", Rapid Prototyping Journal, Vol. 23 No. 1, pp. 181-189. https://doi.org/10.1108/RPJ-12-2015-0183

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited

Related articles