I-Corps: Microheater Array Powder Sintering Technology for Additive Manufacturing

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发一种高速添加剂制造技术，微加热器阵列粉末烧结(MAP)。这项拟议的技术可用于大批量生产各种工程材料，其成本与传统制造相比具有竞争力。这可能会对制造业产生变革性的影响，促进向完全数字化制造的过渡，实现大规模定制，并改变产品的制造和消费方式。虽然拟议的地图技术可能会影响许多不同的行业(例如，打印电子产品、3D打印)，因为它在能源消耗、设备成本、制造时间和过程控制方面具有显著优势，但最初的重点是地图在快速成型和小批量生产塑料部件方面的潜力。与市场上现有的其他解决方案(例如，选择性激光烧结)相比，MAP可能在几个方面更好地满足市场需求，包括对打印过程进行反馈控制，以获得更好的零件质量、更高的打印速度以及更低的设备和拥有成本。这可能会降低采用加法制造的门槛，加快向数字制造的过渡。这个i-Corps项目是基于用于添加剂制造的微加热器阵列粉末烧结(MAP)技术的开发。所提出的技术使用微加热器阵列来数字化地传递聚焦的热图案，并通过将微加热器阵列放置在靠近粉末表面的位置来选择性地烧结粉末颗粒。与选择性激光烧结(SLS)相比，选择性激光烧结(SLS)使用激光将粉末颗粒融合在逐点扫描中，MAP使用微加热器阵列，该阵列可能包括数千个微加热器元件，用于行式或层式打印。这些打印过程可以显著提高打印速度。与高成本激光器不同，微加热器阵列是一组微小的薄膜电阻，可以使用MEMS制造技术以相对较低的成本制造出来。此外，地图的功耗要低得多。与SLS通常需要10s或100s功率的激光器相比，每个微加热器通常消耗100s毫瓦的功率才能达到类似的结果。此外，MAP使反馈控制变得容易。与在不知道温度的情况下以开环方式传递能量的激光器不同，微加热器也是一个温度传感器，可以进行精确的温度控制并实现反馈过程控制。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a high-speed additive manufacturing technology, Microheater Array Powder Sintering (MAPS). The proposed technology may be used for high-volume production with a wide range of engineering materials at a cost competitive with traditional manufacturing. This may have a transformative impact on the manufacturing industry by facilitating the transition to fully digital manufacturing, enabling mass customization, and transforming how products are made and consumed. While the proposed MAPS technology potentially may impact many different industries (e.g., printed electronics, 3D printing) due to its significant advantages in energy consumption, equipment cost, manufacturing time, and process control, the initial focus is on the potential of MAPS for rapid prototyping and small volume production of plastic parts. Compared to other existing solutions in the market (e.g., selective laser sintering), MAPS may better serve the market needs in several areas including feedback control of the printing process for better part quality, higher printing speed, and lower cost of equipment and ownership. This may reduce the barrier of adopting additive manufacturing and accelerate the transition to digital manufacturing. This I-Corps project is based on the development of a Microheater Array Powder Sintering (MAPS) technology for additive manufacturing. The proposed technology uses a microheater array to digitally deliver a focused heat pattern and selectively sinter powder particles by placing the microheater array in close proximity to the powder surface. Compared to selective laser sintering (SLS) that uses a laser to fuse powder particles with point-wise scanning, MAPS uses an microheater array that may include thousands of microheater elements for line-wise or layer-wise printing. These printing processes enable significantly higher printing speeds. In contrast to high-cost lasers, a microheater array is an array of tiny thin-film resistors that may be fabricated at relatively low-cost using MEMS fabrication techniques. In addition, MAPS has much lower power consumption. Compared to a laser that typically requires 10s or 100s of watts of power for SLS, each microheater typically consumes 100s of milliwatts of power to achieve similar results. Moreover, MAPS enables easy feedback control. In contrast to a laser that delivers energy in an open-loop fashion without knowing the temperature, a microheater is also a temperature sensor, which allows for precise temperature control and enables feedback process control.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.