Modeling and simulation of the multi-jet printing process

 CMMRL Research by:

Shanna

Hays

Additive Manufacturing (AM), more commonly known as 3D printing, is the process of building up material layers to produce a final product capable of having freeform geometries and internal structures. Most AM processes utilize polymer and plastic materials which have limited applications due to the anisotropic material response resulting from the layer-by-layer construction and generally poor fine feature resolution. One polymer based process, the material jetting process, or Multi-Jet Printing (MJP), has a potential for increased use as the technique is capable of producing high quality polymer components with resolutions of 100 microns. MJP achieves the fine resolution through the selective deposition of UV light curable photopolymer and support wax from a series of printer heads. One of the challenges associated with this AM technique is that residual stresses can form within the material from over curing resulting in part deformation. This project focuses on the development of a computational model able to capture the MJP process so to understand material response during manufacturing.