A novel approach to additive manufacturing: Screw extrusion 3D-printing

摘要

This paper presents a novel approach of screw extrusion based 3D printing of thermoplastic materials. In contrast to the well-known extrusion based 3D printing technology Fused Deposition Modeling™ based on thermoplastic filament extrusion, granules are used as raw-material in a plastic processing screw, melting the plastic and depositing it at the required locations. The system is designed to overcome some limitations of the filament based process e.g. the need for a thermoplastic filament as feed material, which needs to be produced with a narrow production tolerance with respect to the nozzle diameter to prevent blocking and especially the limited range of commercially available materials which can be processed. The presented system is controlled by an open architecture based CNC-controller, programmed in such a way that it easily can be adapted and extended with new advanced control systems modules, systems to improve product quality.