TY - GEN

T1 - Developing a Feedstock for the Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) of Aluminium

AU - Momeni, Vahid

AU - Shahroodi, Zahra

AU - Kukla, Christian

AU - Holzer, Clemens

PY - 2022/9

Y1 - 2022/9

N2 - Material extrusion-based additive manufacturing (MEAM) techniques are among the most extensively utilized AM pro-cesses because of their inexpensive equipment. Fused filament fabrication (FFF) is the most prevalent MEAM technique for producing high-quality green components for subsequent processes. In addition, using aluminium (Al) and its alloys as superior materials in sophisticated and high-tech applications offers various advantages. The characteristics of feedstock components can have a substantial effect on the final properties. Backbone is one of the most critical components of the feedstock that must be optimized for each powder, especially Al, since processing this oxygen-sensitive metal is quite challenging. Also, the sintering temperature of Al is relatively near to the degradation temperature of most polymers. During debinding, the binder must be entirely removed before sintering; otherwise, sev-eral mechanical defects such as cracks could emerge in the final product. The other problem with incomplete debinding is that high residual oxygen and carbon decrease the mechanical performance of the Al alloys. Furthermore, flexibility and desirable viscosity are other considerations in FFF backbone selection. For this reason, the rheological and thermal characteristics of three polymers used as the backbone for Al feedstock were studied. In this study, PE, PP, and PETG were chosen. The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and rotational rheometer were used to determine degradation temperatures and rheological properties, respectively. The viscosity results showed that using these polymers for Al feedstocks is possible.

AB - Material extrusion-based additive manufacturing (MEAM) techniques are among the most extensively utilized AM pro-cesses because of their inexpensive equipment. Fused filament fabrication (FFF) is the most prevalent MEAM technique for producing high-quality green components for subsequent processes. In addition, using aluminium (Al) and its alloys as superior materials in sophisticated and high-tech applications offers various advantages. The characteristics of feedstock components can have a substantial effect on the final properties. Backbone is one of the most critical components of the feedstock that must be optimized for each powder, especially Al, since processing this oxygen-sensitive metal is quite challenging. Also, the sintering temperature of Al is relatively near to the degradation temperature of most polymers. During debinding, the binder must be entirely removed before sintering; otherwise, sev-eral mechanical defects such as cracks could emerge in the final product. The other problem with incomplete debinding is that high residual oxygen and carbon decrease the mechanical performance of the Al alloys. Furthermore, flexibility and desirable viscosity are other considerations in FFF backbone selection. For this reason, the rheological and thermal characteristics of three polymers used as the backbone for Al feedstock were studied. In this study, PE, PP, and PETG were chosen. The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and rotational rheometer were used to determine degradation temperatures and rheological properties, respectively. The viscosity results showed that using these polymers for Al feedstocks is possible.

KW - Additive Manufacturing

KW - fused filament fabrication (FFF)

KW - aluminium feedstock

KW - rheological properties

KW - ther-mal degradation

M3 - Conference contribution

BT - Conference: 2nd International Conference on Polymer Process Innovation

ER -