Additive manufacturing of metal components using FDM technology

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is a game changing production technology for many applications. Fused deposition modelling is one of the most widely used AM technologies and recently has gained much attention in the advancement of many products. The availability, flexibility, and cost savings of FDM have gained much interest for many industries. Thermoplastic polymers are widely used in FDM processes because it is easy to shape them into filaments with specific sizes. In addition, their melting temperatures are relatively low and their viscosities are suitable during extrusion and deposition. However, FDM can fabricate a limited number of thermoplastic polymers. As such, FDM components have limited properties, which may not satisfy all of the requirements of functional parts. In this research proposal, we aim to convert commercial 3D printer to be able to print metal parts with functional properties.

The project objectives are,
• Define specific requirements for metal 3D printers.
• Identify metal materials and thermoplastic polymers for the formulation of FDM filaments.
• Define best process parameters to extrude metal filaments.
• Optimise 3D printing and post processing technique
• Manufacture and characterisation of metal test samples.