Development of a 3D printed structural electronics force sensor

Structural electronics has garnered significant attention in the past decade. However, there remains a lack of a systematic approach in designing and manufacturing sensors that leverage both mechanical and electronic properties of materials for different applications. In this paper, we introduce a method for designing piezoresistive force...

Xpandables: Single-filament Multi-property 3D Printing by Programmable Foaming

We propose a new approach to obtain local property variations in 3D-printed objects using a single-nozzle 3D printer and one filament. We use foaming filaments which expand at different rates due to different temperatures. We present an approach to harness this varying expansion by including parameters of the 3D printing process in the design...

Feasibility of On-demand Additive Manufacturing of Spare Parts

Spare parts availability is crucial for extending the life of consumer products. However, long-term availability could lead to high stocks of spare parts, which might not be used. Instead, on-demand manufacturing of spare parts with additive manufacturing (AM) is a promising alternative. This paper presents a method to evaluate parts on their...

Nonlinear coarse-graining models for 3D printed multi-material biomimetic composites

Bio-inspired composites are a great promise for mimicking the extraordinary and highly efficient properties of natural materials. Recent developments in voxel-by-voxel 3D printing have enabled extreme levels of control over the material deposition, yielding complex micro-architected materials. However, design complexity, very large degrees of...

Bonding between silicones and thermoplastics using 3D printed mechanical interlocking

Silicones have desirable properties such as skin-safety, high temperature-resistance, and flexibility. Many applications require the presence of a hard body connected to the silicone. Traditionally, it has been difficult to create strong bonding between silicones and hard materials. In this study, a technique is presented to control the...

3D Hatching: Linear halftoning for dual extrusion fused deposition modeling

This work presents halftoning techniques to manufacture 3D objects with the appearance of full grayscale imagery for Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) printers. While droplet-based dithering is a common halftoning technique, this is not applicable to FDM printing, since FDM builds up objects by extruding material in semi-continuous paths. A set...