Sensor-integrated high-volume direct pellet continuous fiber-reinforced supportless robotic 3D printing

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Fiber-reinforced plastics (FRPs) are comprised of a polymer and a reinforcement phase such as glass and carbon fibers. While FRPs have commonly been used in high-cost applications such as in the aerospace and defense sectors, significant reductions in material costs have made FRPs attractive also to the automotive and construction industries. FRPs offer excellent stiffness- and strength-to-weight ratios, as well as high corrosion resistance, making them a high-performance alternative to metal alloys. However, the fabrication of FRP parts, especially for geometries that are not trivial like tubes and plates, remains a complex process comprising the manufacture of fiber preforms such as fabrics, followed by adding the polymer to the preform and forming and solidifying a part employing specialized tooling. This multi-step process is labor intensive, time-consuming, and prone to quality variations due to the need for human intervention. 3D printing of FRPs is an emerging field that has focused primarily on thermoplastic polymers with mostly chopped fibers, resulting in limited stiffness and tensile strength of composite parts, therefore providing little opportunity to create industrial components with enhanced performance. The present proposal aims to overcome these limitations by researching and developing a robotic direct extrusion 3D printing system capable of 3D printing continuous fiber-reinforced plastics to produce parts of industrial relevance and performance. The study will also develop sensors and manufacturing data analytics systems to ensure in line quality control of printed parts by identifying and developing (i) sensors to detect and mitigate part distortion, (2) systems to monitor the continuous fiber morphology in the part, and (iii) actively control the height of deposited layers. The project will also create special computer aided manufacturing strategies, for example, to provide two-dimensional weave capacity for 3D printed parts with true five axis movement for supportless part printing.