Investigation of 3D Printing Processes for Metallization and Metal Casting Applications

该项目旨在确定3D打印热塑性塑料金属化/铸造的关键参数。金属化可以改善打印部件的表面粗糙度、几何一致性和机械性能。然而，目前对3D打印部件金属化的关键工艺参数知之甚少。由于不同的表面处理以及不同的材料性能，这些3D打印部件的行为偏离了传统的注塑成型部件的金属化。该项目将确定影响3D打印热塑性塑料金属化/铸造的关键参数，并研究利用3D打印技术进行小批量零件生产的制造工艺。

This project aims to identify the critical parameters for metallization/casting of 3D printed thermoplastics.Metallization offers improvement in the surface roughness, geometric conformance, and mechanical behaviorof the printed parts. However, currently very less is known about the key process parameters for metallizationof 3D printed parts. The behavior of these 3D printed parts deviates from the conventional metallization ofinjection molded part due to different surface finishes as well as different material properties. This project willidentify the critical parameters that influence the metallization/casting of the 3D printed thermoplastics as wellas investigate a manufacturing process that takes advantage of the 3D printing technology for small batchproduction of parts.