Keywords
fused granular fabrication, hybrid manufacturing, large area additive manufacturing, vacuum infusion, composites, tooling design, wear, durability, surface finish, VARTM
Abstract
Large area additive manufacturing (LAAM) has the capability to create tooling that is lower cost than conventionally manufactured tooling and still has sufficient properties for many applications. A vacuum infusion mold was printed from fiberglass-ABS and evaluated for wear and suitability for small vacuum infusion runs. The mold was designed to accentuate high wear as a “worst case” scenario. The mold was able to produce 10 parts successfully before any noticeable change occurred to the surface finish. By 14 parts, the surface finish had roughened sufficiently that demolding was difficult and resulted in damage to the part. Profilometry measurements showed a 7x increase in roughness over the run. No significant tool wear or change in geometry was detected. Even longer life would be expected for typical tooling designs since the test mold was deliberately designed to accentuate wear and demolding issues. Based on these results, similar LAAM molds are a feasible option for short run vacuum infusion production for prototyping or low-volume composites manufacturing, at lower cost than aluminum molds.
Original Publication Citation
Northrup, N., Weaver, J. M., and George, A. R., “Durability of Vacuum Infusion Tooling Produced from Large Area Additive Manufacturing,” 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing
BYU ScholarsArchive Citation
Northrup, Nathan; Weaver, Jason; and George, Andy R., "Durability of Vacuum Infusion Tooling Produced from Fused Granular Fabrication Additive Manufacturing" (2022). Faculty Publications. 5936.
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/facpub/5936
Document Type
Peer-Reviewed Article
Publication Date
2022
Permanent URL
http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/8665
Publisher
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
Language
English
College
Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering
Department
Manufacturing Engineering
Copyright Status
Copyright © 2022, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. All rights reserved. This is a preprint version of this article. The definitive version will be linked when it is published.
Copyright Use Information
https://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/