A Semi-skilled Fabrication Approach of Shape-Changing Interfaces through Fused Filament Fabrication

Abstract

The common additive manufacturing techniques like fused filament fabrication (FFF) routinely produce physical, rigid structures. But using this production technique for manufacturing flexible structures with high-end materials such as thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) is more difficult. Because of its difficulty, the fabrication of these structures requires higher-end machinery, time-intensive fabrication, and skilled users. Therefore, we focus on the malleable dynamics of a rigid thermoplastics with mid-range FFF technology to expand the design-space of shape-changing interfaces and propose a fabrication approach for it. As a result, the intended user, for example a creative designer, can also integrate shape-changing interfaces of rigid thermoplastics in their designs, much sooner than if constrained by an FFF printing platform. In a first phase, we experiment with different materials through an iterative design-based process. In a second phase, we perform an explorative design-case study to test the material’s flexibility and the fabrication approach. The research is concluded with an approach proposal, discussion and future work.