Optimizing the Properties of Polymers and Composites Made by Additive Manufacturing

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The proposed program of research centers on the analysis and modeling of the relationship between processing, structure, and mechanical properties of materials made using digital additive manufacturing. The term “additive manufacturing”, also known as “3D printing”, describes a number of different processes in which a solid component is constructed by depositing very thin layers of material that fuse or bond to the material of the previously deposited layer. Commercial machines have been made to deposit a variety of materials in this way: polymers, metals, ceramics, composites, and even biocompatible human tissue scaffolds. In all cases, the individual layers (and eventually the entire part) are rendered directly from a digital file. This allows for a very quick turnaround between the conception of a part and the creation of the actual three-dimensional object. Hence additive manufacturing has also been widely referred to as “rapid prototyping”.