I-Corps: Resin mini-extruder for additive manufacturing

I-Corps：用于增材制造的树脂微型挤出机

• 批准号: 1743948
• 负责人: Charles Kim
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: Bucknell University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-06-15 至 2018-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1743948&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Resin; mini; extruder; additive

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project involves providing significantly lower operating costs, broader material variety, and faster speeds than currently available with the fused-deposition modeling (FDM) additive manufacturing process. As additive manufacturing transitions from a prototyping tool to manufacturing solution, the demand for fast, inexpensive, and dynamic 3D printing solutions will continue to grow. The Resin Mini-Extruder is capable of integrating with existing 3D printer electro-mechanical systems and processing raw plastic pellets (resin) directly into a final part, unlike existing FDM technologies that require a filament feedstock. Raw pelletized plastics are typically a tenth to hundredth the cost of comparable filaments, which allow for significantly lower costs per print. In addition, the proposed solution is capable of printing a wide variety of plastics that are very difficult to print with existing extruders, including thermoplastic elastomers and polymer composites. The Resin Mini-Extruder is capable of significantly faster production than existing FDM technologies, which will enable high turnover of design prototypes and production parts.This I-Corps project is based on prior NSF-funded research involving a design framework for biomimetic elasto-fluidic systems. The research inspired the invention of a novel technology for manufacturing elasto-fluidic actuators, which forms the basis of this I-Corps project. The technology, the Resin Mini-Extruder for additive manufacturing, is a screw-driven extrusion system, which includes a novel screw-drive extruder and dynamic control system. The intent is to implement the extruder with existing 3D printer electro-mechanical systems in a FDM additive manufacturing process. The invention of the Resin Mini-Extruder was motivated by the need to print materials that existing FDM technologies are incapable of processing, namely thermoplastic elastomers. A goal of this I-Corps project is to determine whether customers demand broader material variety from FDM and if so, which materials and composites are preferred. The I-Corps process will also be used to determine the extent at which the other technology advantages are valued among customers, including cost per print and print speed, in particular applications.

该I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力包括提供比目前采用熔融沉积成型（FDM）增材制造工艺更低的运营成本，更广泛的材料种类和更快的速度。随着增材制造从原型工具过渡到制造解决方案，对快速，廉价和动态3D打印解决方案的需求将继续增长。树脂微型挤出机能够与现有的3D打印机机电系统集成，并将原塑料颗粒（树脂）直接加工成最终部件，而不像现有的FDM技术需要长丝原料。原颗粒塑料的成本通常是可比长丝的十分之一到百分之一，这使得每次打印的成本显着降低。此外，所提出的解决方案能够打印各种各样的塑料，这些塑料很难用现有的挤出机打印，包括热塑性弹性体和聚合物复合材料。与现有的FDM技术相比，树脂微型挤出机的生产速度明显更快，这将使设计原型和生产部件的周转率更高。这个I-Corps项目是基于之前NSF资助的研究，涉及仿生弹性流体系统的设计框架。这项研究启发了一种用于制造弹性流体致动器的新技术的发明，该技术构成了I-Corps项目的基础。该技术，用于增材制造的树脂微型挤出机，是一种螺杆驱动挤出系统，包括一种新型螺杆驱动挤出机和动态控制系统。其目的是在FDM增材制造过程中使用现有的3D打印机机电系统实现挤出机。树脂微型挤出机的发明是出于打印现有FDM技术无法处理的材料，即热塑性弹性体的需要。这个I-Corps项目的目标是确定客户是否需要FDM提供更广泛的材料种类，如果需要，哪些材料和复合材料是首选。I-Corps流程还将用于确定客户对其他技术优势的重视程度，包括每次打印成本和打印速度，特别是应用程序。