Advanced additive manufacturing of multifunctional composites

一些高科技产品已经达到了使用极限。例如，微电子工业正面临着对紧凑型3D架构和降低功耗的日益增长的需求，而航空航天工业正在寻找更轻、更刚性和导电的材料来减轻其设备。一个非常有前途的解决方案是利用某些微米或纳米材料（一米的十亿分之一）的令人难以置信的特性，并将它们加入塑料中，形成显著改善的复合材料。复合材料的增材制造或三维（3D）打印是一组不同的成型过程，它允许通过计算机模型通过机器人沉积材料来制造结构。这项技术对于许多机械和航空航天系统的实现是一个非常有前途的途径。我的工作重点是开发先进的复合材料，为增材制造提供多种功能（在给定应用中需要多种特性）。在制造方面，我将继续我原来的工作，打印复杂的自由形状3D结构（没有支撑材料），并开发一个多材料打印平台，兼容我不同的复合材料的各种性能（机械电阻，电导率，压电性：变形时产生电荷等）。在材料方面，我将创造新型的复合材料，提供创新的功能，同时保持兼容高效的绿色工艺。数值模拟工具也将被开发出来，不仅可以预测复合材料的性能，还可以预测打印部件的性能。我的研究推动了增材制造的边界，并允许创建具有即使是市场上最先进的商业3D打印机也无法实现的属性和几何形状的系统。预期的好处是：(1)完全开发出与各种材料和应用兼容的3D自由形状制造方法，(2)打印出一种新型的完全可打印的传感器，这种传感器由材料复合材料制成，用于电能受限的移动设备（手机、智能服装），(3)创造出污染更少、更创新的绿色材料和工艺。这些发现将有利于未来项目的几个学术合作者，以及主要在航空航天、微电子和生物医学领域工作的工业伙伴。

Several high-tech products are reaching their operational limits. For example, the microelectronics industry is facing a growing demand for compact 3D architectures and reduced power consumption, while the aerospace industry is looking for lighter, more rigid and electrically conductive materials to lighten its devices. A very promising solution is to capitalize on the incredible properties of certain micro or nanoscopic materials (1 billionth of a meter) and incorporate them into plastics to form significantly improved composites. Additive manufacturing, or three-dimensional (3D) printing, of composites is a grouping of different shaping processes that allows the fabrication of structures through robotic deposition of material by means of a computer model. This technology is a very promising avenue for the implementation of many mechanical and aerospace systems. My work focuses on the development of advanced composite materials offering multiple functionalities (where multiple properties are desired for a given application) for additive manufacturing. On the manufacturing side, I will continue my original work on the printing of complex freeform 3D structures (without support material) and develop a multi-material printing platform compatible with my different composites of various properties (mechanical resistance, electrical conductivity, piezoelectricity: generation of electric charges when deformed, etc.). On the material side, I will create new types of composites that offer innovative features while remaining compatible with efficient green processes. Numerical simulation tools will also be developed to predict the properties of not only the composites, but also of the printed parts. My research pushes the boundaries of additive manufacturing and allows the creation of systems with properties and geometries that are not achievable with even the most advanced commercial 3D printers on the market. The expected benefits are (1) the complete development of a 3D freeform manufacturing method compatible with a wide variety of materials and applications, (2) the printing of a new type of fully printable sensor made of material composites for mobile devices where electrical energy is restricted (cell phone, smart clothing), (3) the creation of green materials and processes that are less polluting and innovative. These discoveries will benefit several academic collaborators for future projects, and industrial partners mainly working in the aerospace, microelectronics and biomedical fields.