The importance of carbon fiber to polymer additive manufacturing
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Vlastamil Kunc, Orlando Rios, and Chad E. Duty Deposition Science and Technology Group, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Knoxville, Tennessee 37932, USA
Amelia M. Elliott, Brian K. Post, and Rachel J. Smith Manufacturing Systems Research Group, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Knoxville, Tennessee 37932, USA
Craig A. Blue Energy and Environmental Sciences Directorate, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA (Received 8 April 2014; accepted 23 June 2014)
Additive manufacturing (AM) holds tremendous promise in terms of revolutionizing manufacturing. However, fundamental hurdles limit the widespread adoption of this technology. First, production rates are extremely low. Second, the physical size of the parts is generally small, less than a cubic foot. Third, the mechanical properties of the polymer parts are generally poor, limiting the potential for direct part replacement and functional use of the polymer components. This article describes various ways in which carbon fibers (CFs) can be used to address these fundamental hurdles. First, CF-reinforced polymers developed for AM have demonstrated specific strengths approaching aerospace-quality aluminum. Second, CF additions can radically reduce the distortion and warping of the material during deposition, which enables large-scale, out-of-the-oven, high deposition rate manufacturing. Finally, the complementary nature of CF technology and AM is discussed, showing how merging the two manufacturing processes enables the construction of complex components that would not be possible with either technology alone.
I. BACKGROUND
The basic design and fabrication of mechanical systems has changed little since the start of the industrial revolution in that a part is designed based on simple geometric structures (cylinders, blocks, extrusions, holes, etc.). The final product is manufactured through either removing material from a billet (mill, lathe, drill, saw, etc.) or shaped using a tool (injection molding, compression forming, forging, etc.). In the early 1980s, a radical departure from manufacturing processes began, drawing inspiration from nature. Nature manufactures parts through additive processes: very organic structures are grown molecule by molecule, layer by layer. The first examples of AM processes, or 3D printing, began emerging in the early 1980s. Rather than the creation of a part by removing some material, a part is manufactured by selectively adding material layer by layer, producing the target final shape. The primary market for AM has focused on prototyping. The ability to “print” a part quickly without the need for tooling enables rapid development of prototypes for testing form, fit, and function. Until recently, there was no motivation for creativity and complexity in design because the final product had to be manufactured using conventional a)
Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: [email protected] DOI: 10.1557/jmr.2014.212 J. Mater. Res., Vol. 29, No. 17, Sep 14, 2014
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