Layerless Additive Manufacturing of Metal Alloy Lattices Using Immiscible-Interface Assisted Direct Metal Drawing (II-DMD) [Click for detail]
- System design of II-DMD process: A pressurized dispensing syringe is mounted on a three-degree-of-freedom (DoF) gantry system. The syringe is loaded with a bronze-oil suspension and is controlled to continuously extrude the suspension along a given 3D tool path within an alumina-water suspension in a crucible, as depicted in Fig. 1a. The tool path of the syringe is created with a customized Matlab code. As the bronze-oil suspension is deposited, an immiscible water-oil interface is instantaneously established between the bronze and alumina particles, which locks the bronze and alumina particles in position and maintain the 3D shape of the deposited bronze-oil suspension.
- Test cases fabricated by II-DMD process: Fabrication results via the SEPS process: (a) a lattice structure, (b) stent structure, (c) cone springs, (d) optical microscope image of springs, (e) and (f) SEM images of printed samples, (g) tensile test of a fabricated specimen.
