04/06/2021
By Sokny Long

The Francis College of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, invites you to attend a doctoral dissertation proposal defense by Antoine Delarue on the “Additive Manufacturing of High Loaded Materials.”

Ph.D. Candidate: Antoine Delarue
Defense Date: Tuesday, April 20, 2021
Time: Noon to 2 p.m. EST
Location: This will be a virtual defense via Zoom. Those interested in attending should contact antoine_delarue@student.uml.edu and committee advisor, christopher_hansen@uml.edu, at least 24 hours prior to the defense to request access to the meeting.

Committee Chair (Advisor): Christopher Hansen, Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Committee Members:

  • Amy Peterson, Associate Professor, Plastics Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Murat Inalpolat, Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Ian M. McAninch, Materials Engineer, U.S. Army CCDC Army Research Laboratory

Brief Abstract:

Additive manufacturing (AM) offers the potential to tailor the properties of a composite material through the composition and ratio of the matrix and the fillers, and to fabricate new geometries, which substantially opens the design space for new applications. However, the range of liquid feedstock materials processable in AM techniques is limited by the viscosity increase imposed by the inclusion of fillers. This processing limitation results in a design trade-off between the geometric complexity of the printed part, the fraction of fillers in the matrix, and the processability of the resulting feedstock.

Here, we describe efforts to overcome this design trade-off for two AM techniques, namely the Digital Light Processing (DLP) technique and the Ambient Reactive Extrusion (ARE) technique. First, processing difficulties of the highly filled inks for DLP will be approached by using vibrations to enhance the flow of the feedstock during a printing cycle, thus eliminating issues related to poor recoating of the printing area. We will describe our endeavor to understand the effect of the excitation frequency and amplitude on the resin flow, as well as to characterize the subsequent improvement in printing quality. Then, we will discuss the ARE printing issues of highly filled materials associated with nozzle clogging due to the formation of particle networks at the tip of the static mixer, before presenting a vibrating system meant to break these particle networks and maintain a steady flow during printing. Finally, we will describe our plan to understand the effect of the excitation from the vibrating system on a range of processing parameters, in order to improve the reliability of the ARE technique for a wide range of printing conditions and feedstock solid content.

All interested students and faculty members are invited to attend the online defense via remote access.