An Undergraduate Research Project in Material  Science for Improved Rapid Prototyping

Stephen Andrew Wilkerson; Stephen N. Kuchnicki; Aidan T. McFall

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Conference: 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Baltimore , Maryland
Publication Date: June 25, 2023
Start Date: June 25, 2023
End Date: June 28, 2023
Conference Session: Materials Division (MATS) Technical Session 3
Tagged Division: Materials Division (MATS)
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--44636
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/44636

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Stephen Andrew Wilkerson P.E. York College of Pennsylvania

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Stephen Wilkerson (swilkerson@ycp.edu) received his PhD from Johns Hopkins University in 1990 in Mechanical Engineering. His Thesis and initial work was on underwater explosion bubble dynamics and ship and submarine whipping. After graduation he took a position with the US Army where he has been ever since. For the first decade with the Army he worked on notable programs to include the M829A1 and A2 that were first of a kind composite saboted munition. His travels have taken him to Los Alamos where he worked on modeling the transient dynamic attributes of Kinetic Energy munitions during initial launch. Afterwards he was selected for the exchange scientist program and spent a summer working for DASA Aerospace in Wedel, Germany 1993. His initial research also made a major contribution to the M1A1 barrel reshape initiative that began in 1995. Shortly afterwards he was selected for a 1 year appointment to the United States Military Academy West Point where he taught Mathematics. Following these accomplishments he worked on the SADARM fire and forget projectile that was finally used in the second gulf war.
Since that time, circa 2002, his studies have focused on unmanned systems both air and ground. His team deployed a bomb finding robot named the LynchBot to Iraq late in 2004 and then again in 2006 deployed about a dozen more improved LynchBots to Iraq. His team also assisted in the deployment of 84 TACMAV systems in 2005. Around that time he volunteered as a science advisor and worked at the Rapid Equipping Force during the summer of 2005 where he was exposed to a number of unmanned systems technologies. His initial group composed of about 6 S&T grew to nearly 30 between 2003 and 2010 as he transitioned from a Branch head to an acting Division Chief. In 2010-2012 he again was selected to teach Mathematics at the United States Military Academy West Point. Upon returning to ARL's Vehicle Technology Directorate from West Point he has continued his research on unmanned systems under ARL's Campaign for Maneuver as the Associate Director of Special Programs. Throughout his career he has continued to teach at a variety of colleges and universities. For the last 4 years he has been a part time instructor and collaborator with researchers at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (http://me.umbc.edu/directory/). He is currently an Assistant Professor at York College PA.

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Stephen N. Kuchnicki York College of Pennsylvania

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Dr. Stephen Kuchnicki is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Chair of the Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering at York College of Pennsylvania. He has taught at York College since 2008, mainly in the areas of solid mechanics and materials.

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Aidan T. McFall

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Abstract

An Undergraduate Research Project in Material Science for Improved Rapid Prototyping

Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) is one of the most widely used additive manufacturing techniques. Currently there are a multitude of FDM filaments available. FDM and several other additive techniques can now routinely be found at K-12 schools, colleges, and universities. Not surprisingly, numerous hands on manufacturing projects for higher education make use of Three Dimensional (3D) printers to produce models and working prototypes of designs developed by students. These are routinely used for robotics, mechatronics, control projects and many capstone design activities. Now, instead of expending excess time and money for a complicated first of a kind part; a 3D printed substitution can be created for a fraction of the cost, time, and resources of a machined part. More often than not, users will design a prototype using a CAD package. Then a STL file is created and sent to a slicer program to produce the part using well established FDM techniques. Initially, little concern to the orientations or filament choices (typically out of PLA ) is given. The resulting model or prototype in many cases is easily broken. Much is learned in the process and a new part or redesign is made taking into account the weaknesses and failure locations in the original. The new design might even be accompanied by a Finite Element Method (FEM) or other analyses to support the proposed changes. This process results in a spiral development that continually improves the functionality and survivability of the prototype. This paper stems from an independent study project that was focused on layer orientation within a 3D printed FDM model. Since many models are created without any regard to their geometric infills, alignment, or the accompanying stress forces, some guidance in 3D model orientation seems warranted. To attempt to uncover the different properties in regard to layer orientation, four of the most commonly used materials were tensile tested. The results are summarized in order to determine their maximum strength, ductility, and modulus of elasticity. This invaluable knowledge will help with initial material decisions, design layups, and orientations. Some of the surprising results are given here. Furthermore, the results contained in this limited offering should prove invaluable for many projects requiring working prototypes. Results and a discussion of best practices are also provided as a measure of merit for this project. In this paper’s body we lay out the methodologies, in detail, used by the student during this single semester study so that others might duplicate the effort. As this was the third attempt at this particular material based independent study, we also added our observations of the effectiveness of this project’s design and made assessments as to the effectiveness of our approach. A discussion of the figures of merit and why this testing ultimately improves rapid prototyping are included.

1. Computer Aided Design (CAD): https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/CAD-computer-aided-design 2. Standard Triangle Language STL: https://all3dp.com/1/stl-file-format-3d-printing/ 3. Polylactic Acid, commonly known as PLA a common FDM printing material: https://all3dp.com/1/best-pla-filament/

Citation
Format

Wilkerson, S. A., & Kuchnicki, S. N., & McFall, A. T. (2023, June), An Undergraduate Research Project in Material Science for Improved Rapid Prototyping Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--44636

TY - CPAPER
AB - An Undergraduate Research Project in Material
Science for Improved Rapid Prototyping

Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) is one of the most widely used additive manufacturing techniques. Currently there are a multitude of FDM filaments available. FDM and several other additive techniques can now routinely be found at K-12 schools, colleges, and universities. Not surprisingly, numerous hands on manufacturing projects for higher education make use of Three Dimensional (3D) printers to produce models and working prototypes of designs developed by students. These are routinely used for robotics, mechatronics, control projects and many capstone design activities. Now, instead of expending excess time and money for a complicated first of a kind part; a 3D printed substitution can be created for a fraction of the cost, time, and resources of a machined part. More often than not, users will design a prototype using a CAD package. Then a STL file is created and sent to a slicer program to produce the part using well established FDM techniques. Initially, little concern to the orientations or filament choices (typically out of PLA ) is given. The resulting model or prototype in many cases is easily broken. Much is learned in the process and a new part or redesign is made taking into account the weaknesses and failure locations in the original. The new design might even be accompanied by a Finite Element Method (FEM) or other analyses to support the proposed changes. This process results in a spiral development that continually improves the functionality and survivability of the prototype.
This paper stems from an independent study project that was focused on layer orientation within a 3D printed FDM model. Since many models are created without any regard to their geometric infills, alignment, or the accompanying stress forces, some guidance in 3D model orientation seems warranted. To attempt to uncover the different properties in regard to layer orientation, four of the most commonly used materials were tensile tested. The results are summarized in order to determine their maximum strength, ductility, and modulus of elasticity. This invaluable knowledge will help with initial material decisions, design layups, and orientations. Some of the surprising results are given here. Furthermore, the results contained in this limited offering should prove invaluable for many projects requiring working prototypes. Results and a discussion of best practices are also provided as a measure of merit for this project.
In this paper’s body we lay out the methodologies, in detail, used by the student during this single semester study so that others might duplicate the effort. As this was the third attempt at this particular material based independent study, we also added our observations of the effectiveness of this project’s design and made assessments as to the effectiveness of our approach. A discussion of the figures of merit and why this testing ultimately improves rapid prototyping are included.

1. Computer Aided Design (CAD): https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/CAD-computer-aided-design
2. Standard Triangle Language STL: https://all3dp.com/1/stl-file-format-3d-printing/
3. Polylactic Acid, commonly known as PLA a common FDM printing material: https://all3dp.com/1/best-pla-filament/

AU - Stephen Andrew Wilkerson P.E.
AU - Stephen N. Kuchnicki
AU - Aidan T. McFall
CY - Baltimore , Maryland
DA - 2023/06/25
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - An Undergraduate Research Project in Material Science for Improved Rapid Prototyping
UR - https://peer.asee.org/44636
DO - 10.18260/1-2--44636
ER -