Group 075-10: Advanced Manufacturing

Our test materials for the chamber prototype utilized fishing line as the carbon fiber substitute and tempera paints as the PEI substitute. This initial testing was conducted in order to determine that a consistent coating was achievable. Figure 1.  basic set up of chamber utilising tension reel and motors to control fishing line Figure 2.  coating of tempera paint over fishing line; original diameter 0.23mm uncoated, 0.32mm coated No visible patches of fishing line was left uncoated. Because the paint required time to dry fully before being wound, production was not continuous. However, the low viscosity paint air dried in less than five minutes, and with the implementation of fans, the wait time between running the lengths of the lines minimised to two minutes. Figure 3. implementation of fan Figure 4.  zero leakage of paint from chamber during and after coating process Figure 5.  product of first run on prototype one Our chamber...

The design of the coating chamber was designed to allow the carbon fiber line to pass through it where the molten PEI flows from the hopper to coat the fiber.  Figure 1. bottom of the chamber; carbon fiber is pulled from conical opening into the chamber where it is coated with PEI and pulled through Figure 2. top of the chamber; slanted opening on top allows PEI to be delivered into the chamber from the hopper attached on top Figure 3.  printed and assembled chamber with fitted hopper The prototype of the chamber and hopper are printed with ABS filament on a standard 3D printer. Because the material is not conducive to heat, our initial trials will be conducted with fishing line and a semi-flexible material with either a low melting point or a fast drying time.

Our goal in the manufacturing process is to be able to drag a carbon fiber filament through a molten PEI bath, creating a continuous and even coating and resulting in a reinforced material that can be used for 3D printing. The applications of this manufactured filament are limited only to what can be 3D printed. The carbon fiber provides reinforcement to the print, eliminating the need for integrated support material and minimizing waste of filament. Preliminary Sketches:

This group includes Kyle Moynahan, Samantha Fong, and Eric Kirchgessner. We are pursuing an external project under the guidance of Dr. Antonios Kontsos and Dr. Nicolas Alvarez here at Drexel. We are working on developing a manufacturing process for composite 3D printer filaments. Our goal is to produce a filament that can be used in commercial 3D printers.