Polymer blending is a common method of combining material properties to achieve desired functionalities such as improved impact resistance, barrier properties, thermal stability, creep resistance, insulation properties, and mechanical strength. In some consumer products, there is a need for these properties to be tunable within the geometry of the product such as with the hardness of a bicycle helmet. Parts of the helmet are hard to protect the user from impact while other parts are soft to provide comfort to the user. In this study, we developed a novel, multi-material 3D printing technique to precisely control the material properties in multifunctional parts. We utilized the fine spatial resolution of fused deposition modeling coupled with a layer multiplication die at the nozzle to tune layer thickness of the extrudate. We demonstrated the ability to print an ordered layered structure out of multiple colors of ABS plastic with a miniature coextrusion nozzle.
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