Thermoset elastomers are widely used high‐performance materials due to their thermal stability, chemical resistance, and mechanical properties. However, established casting and molding techniques limit the overall 3D complexity of parts that can be fabricated. Advanced manufacturing methods such as 3D printing have improved design flexibility and reduced development time but have proved challenging using thermally‐cured thermosets due to their viscosity, slow gelation kinetics, and high surface tension. To address this, freeform reversible embedding (FRE) 3D printing extrudes thermosets such as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomer within a carbomer support bath, but due to the liquid‐like state of the prepolymer during extrusion has been limited to hollow structures. Here, FRE printing is significantly improved through rheological modification of PDMS with a thixotropic additive (1.0–10.0 wt.%) that imparts a yield stress (30–120 Pa) to help control filament morphology. Further, print process controls consisting of region‐specific slicing, filament retraction, and nonprint travel moves outside of the print to minimize the interaction of the nozzle with previously printed PDMS are implemented. The combined result is the FRE printing of PDMS in complex 3D parts with high fidelity, establishing a 3D printing methodology that can be used broadly with thermally‐cured thermoset elastomers and related polymers.
Thermally cured thermoset polymers such as epoxies are widely used in industry and manufacturing due to their thermal, chemical, and electrical resistance, and mechanical strength and toughness. However, it can be challenging to 3D print thermally cured thermosets without rheological modification because they tend to flow and not hold their shape when extruded due to cure times of minutes to hours. 3D printing inside a support bath addresses this by allowing the liquid polymer to be held in place until the thermoset is fully cured and expands the structures that can be printed as extrusion is not limited to layer‐by‐layer. Here, the use of Freeform Reversible Embedding (FRE) to 3D print off‐the‐shelf thermoset epoxy into lattice structures using nonplanar extrusion is reported. To do this, the authors investigate how extrusion direction in 3D space impacts epoxy filament morphology and fusion at filament intersections. Furthermore, the advantages of this approach are shown by using nonplanar printing to produce lattice geometries that show ≈ four times greater specific modulus compared with lattice structures printed using other materials and printing techniques.
more » « less- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10419301
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Advanced Materials Technologies
- Volume:
- 8
- Issue:
- 7
- ISSN:
- 2365-709X
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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