BEAD WIDTH AND HEIGHT EFFECTS ON POLYMER ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING MATERIAL PROPERTIES

Abstract

Ultem 9085 resin is used notably in aerospace applications due to a combination of its high performance mechanically and thermally for a thermoplastic, processability as a thermoplastic, and achieving flame smoke toxicity (FST) ratings. Additive manufacturing (AM) has become a prominent manufacturing method for this material in aerospace use as it has achieved certifications for airworthiness which substantiates it’s use on planes. Differences in mechanical properties between different bead widths and heights have been noted however a more complete analysis of bead width and height with changing mechanical properties is needed for FDM printed thermoplastics for the link between these properties to be explored. The present work aims to establish a dataset of these values, made specifically with a material of interest for use, so that the link between these values and mechanical properties can be investigated. In this thesis XY, YX and +/- 45deg samples of Ultem 9085 were fabricated with varying bead widths and heights utilized during printing across two nozzle size selections which were then tensile tested per ASTM D638 standard to create a dataset for analyzation. This dataset was then analyzed to look for trends for exploring the link between the two. During this process direct image correlation (DIC) was taken with a portion of samples in addition to scanning electron microscopy imaging of breakages for any potential insights these could provide to the data, batches of samples that were noted to have a flaw within any of the batch were retained and tested for any insights that could be gathered in future works regarding printing defects.