Influence of Fibers on the Flow Through the Hot-End in Material Extrusion Additive Manufacturing

Marcin Serdeczny, Raphaël Comminal, David Bue Pedersen, Jon Spangenberg*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingBook chapterResearchpeer-review

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    Abstract

    Advancements in material extrusion additive manufacturing are driven by the need of fast production of high-quality parts. A key innovation was the introduction of short fibers into the built filament, which substantially improve the strength of manufactured components. However, the presence of fibers also affects the viscosity and thermal conductivity of the filament, which are important parameters for the extrusion flow and thus the maximum printing speed. In this paper, we numerically study the effect of fibers on the polymer flow and pressure drop inside the nozzle, which determines the maximum extrusion rate. The thermoplastic polymer flow is simulated with a nonisothermal computational fluid dynamics model and the inclusion of fibers is treated with a continuum approach. The simulations are performed for ABS polymer with short carbon fibers, however, other thermoplastic systems with short fibers (e.g. glass, wood, or nylon) can be integrated into the model. The model provides a virtual window into the process and illustrates that while fibers increase the viscosity of the filament and the pressure drop, they also improve the thermal conductivity and lead to faster melting of the polymer, which has an opposite effect on the pressure drop. Finally, the model quantifies the relationship between the fiber volume fraction and the maximum extrusion rate.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationIndustrializing Additive Manufacturing : Proceedings of AMPA 2020
    EditorsM. Meboldt, C. Klahn
    Place of PublicationCham
    PublisherSpringer
    Publication date2020
    Pages251–267
    ISBN (Print)978-3-030-54333-4
    ISBN (Electronic)978-3-030-54334-1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2020
    EventInternational Conference on Additive Manufacturing in Products and Applications (AMPA 2020) - ETH, Zürich, Switzerland
    Duration: 1 Sept 20203 Sept 2020

    Conference

    ConferenceInternational Conference on Additive Manufacturing in Products and Applications (AMPA 2020)
    LocationETH
    Country/TerritorySwitzerland
    CityZürich
    Period01/09/202003/09/2020

    Keywords

    • Fused deposition modeling
    • Fiber reinforcement
    • Computational fluid dynamics

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