Research
Reactive Printing
New latent reactive epoxy materials and a coordinated process development for extrusion-based additive manufacturing processes
Project number: 01IF23147N
Project duration
From: 01.07.2024 To: 30.06.2026Description
Additive manufacturing technology is increasingly being used in the industrial sector to manufacture components for series production. Due to an ever broader range of applications and thus changing requirements, there is a need for new materials. Extrusion-based 3D printing processes, such as fast filament fabrication (FFF), play a major role in this, especially in SMEs. However, many thermoplastics do not meet the requirements for demanding applications (aviation, medicine, etc.). High mechanical strength and temperature or chemical resistance often require the use of high-temperature materials such as PEEK. Such materials are expensive and require high processing temperatures, which can lead to thermal stresses and component distortion.The aim of the project is therefore to develop latent reactive filaments based on epoxy resin. The filaments can be processed at low process temperatures and cross-linked directly in the printing process to form thermoset components. This makes it possible to combine simple thermoplastic processability with the advantages of thermoset materials.
After finalizing a requirements profile, resin formulations are developed and characterized. A demonstrator system including peripherals (cooling, winding) for the extrusion of filaments is then set up. Components are then printed from the filaments using FFF, which are cross-linked directly in the process using IR or UV radiation. The cross-linked components are then characterized and compared with the state of the art. The process chain is validated using practical components from the project board. Finally, recommendations for SMEs will be developed to facilitate the processing of thermoplastic-based, crosslinkable filaments and the subsequent printing and curing process. If successful, SMEs will benefit from better material and component properties at lower material costs.
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