THERMOMECHANICAL NUMERICAL MODELING FRAMEWORK FOR ADDITIVELY MANUFACTURED POLYMERS AND POLYMER COMPOSITES

Abstract

Polymer-based composites provide a wide margin of superiority over conventional materials, such as metals, alloys, and ceramics, due to higher strength-to-weight ratio, easily customizable product properties, flexible manufacturing processes, low-cost and high corrosion resistance properties. Furthermore, the recent developments in additive manufacturing (AM), a.k.a. 3D printing (3DP), methods have provided newer and flexible production avenues in several industrial sectors, including biomedical, construction, electronics, telecommunication, mechanical, defense, etc. AM processes allow a higher degree of freedom in designing and fabricating customized parts, rapid manufacturing, reduction/elimination of waste, lower chances of human error, high precision, and accuracy at lower costs. The unlimited flexibility in material selection, AM process parameters, and product design leads to a critical challenge of performance optimization, which is nearly impossible with conventional trial-and-error experimental approaches. In this dissertation, a thermomechanical numerical modeling framework is presented and validated via experiments for dimensional accuracy, distortions, and mechanical performance prediction of fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D-printed parts. The numerical model adequately predicted the process-induced defects (deflections and warpages) and mechanical behavior of 3D-printed parts. The proposed numerical modeling framework provides a fast, simple, and inexpensive approach to analyzing the product, process, property, and performance (PPPP) characteristics. Finally, a life cycle assessment (LCA) analysis was performed to compare the environmental impacts caused by both characterization approaches (i.e., numerical modeling and experimental).

Date of Award	2023
Original language	American English
Awarding Institution	HBKU College of Science and Engineering