Open AccessTemperature Analyses in Fused Filament Fabrication: From Filament Entering the Hot-End to the Printed Parts
Author(s) -
Jie Zhang,
Eglé Vasiliauskaite,
Alec De Kuyper,
Cédric De Schryver,
Frederik Vogeler,
Frederik Desplentere,
Eleonora Ferraris
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
3d printing and additive manufacturing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.917
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 2329-7670
pISSN - 2329-7662
DOI - 10.1089/3dp.2020.0339
Subject(s) - fused filament fabrication , nozzle , protein filament , fabrication , materials science , mechanical engineering , thermal , 3d printing , flow (mathematics) , mechanics , nanotechnology , composite material , engineering , thermodynamics , physics , alternative medicine , pathology , medicine
This article analyzes temperature fields and their variations in fused filament fabrication (FFF) from the filament entering the hot-end to the printed parts, aiming at a deeper understanding of the thermal process of this additive manufacturing technology. A standard E3D print head assembly was mounted on a robot arm for printing. A stable filament feeding region was determined with an upper limit in the volume flow rate at different nozzle temperatures. Within the limit, the steady-state temperature fields inside the hot-end were studied by a computational fluid dynamics model. Simulations indicated that the temperature became less homogeneous at higher flow rates, leading to a lower extrudate temperature at the nozzle outlet. These outlet temperatures were analyzed, validated, and used as input to simulate temperature variations in printed parts with a self-developed open-access numerical model. An interlayer time similarity rule was found in printing single-walled geometries, which specifies temperature similarities at the same interlayer time. The findings provide new insights into FFF processes, pointing out opportunities for improved production efficiency and scalability to large-scale manufacturing.