Browsing by Subject "Polyamide"
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Item Additive manufacturing of laser sintered polyamide optically translucent parts(2013-12) Yuan, Mengqi, 1989-; Bourell, David LeeLithophane is a translucent image created by varying the plate thickness; the image is observed using a back lit light source. Software Bmp2CnC linearly converts the black and white image grayscale into the thickness, thus generates CAD file and lithophane is fabricated by additive manufacturing machines. Additive manufacturing makes highly complex lithophane fabrication possible. It is a convenient, rapid, green, design-driven, and high precision way to make lithophanes, and no post processing is needed. Optical properties of laser sintered polyamide 12 translucent additive manufactured parts were analyzed in this dissertation. First, selected optical properties of laser sintered polyamide 12 blank plates under different monochromatic light and white light were investigated and applied in production of laser sintered lithophanes to achieve better performance. A spectrophotometer was used to measure the transmittance of visible light through laser sintered polyamide 12 plates as a function of plate thickness. The transmittance decreased with increasing plate thickness according to a modified Beer-Lambert Law, and it varied significantly depending on the monochromatic wavelength. Monochromatic LEDs were used to assess the wavelength dependence on the transmission and contrast. Highest transmission was observed with green light (540 nm), and poorest transmission was measured for yellow light (560 nm). Second, several parameters affecting lithophane manufacturing performance were analyzed including lithophane orientation with respect to light source, brightness and contrast versus plate thickness and grayscale level, quantized plate thickness correction, surface finish quality, and manufacturing orientation. It was found that brightness was relative to the plate thickness. The contrast was defined by the lithophane grayscale level, which was influenced by sintering layer thickness, plate thickness, and sintering orientation. Thinner sintering layers resulted in more grayscale levels of the image and smaller difference between the theoretical thickness and actual thickness. Relatively larger plate thickness defined greater contrast; however, the plate thickness was limited due to the light transmission. Lithophane quality was largely improved by changing the manufacturing orientation from the XY plane orientation to the ZX/ZY plane orientation. The grayscale level changed continuously when parts were constructed in the z orientation. Third, other thermoplastic semi-crystalline materials were analyzed for LS optically translucent part production. Last, plates and lithophanes were built using a different AM platform: stereolithography (SL) with Somos® ProtoGen[Trademark] O- XT 18420 white resin. Different optical properties and lithophane performance were found and compared with PA 12 parts. In conclusion, laser sintered polyamide 12 optical properties varied with light wavelength and reached the maximum under green light. When building in the XY plane, thinner layer thickness (0.07 mm) and relative thicker maximum plate thickness (3.81 mm) leaded to higher contrast and greyscale level. Lithophane quality was largely improved when fabricated in the ZX/ZY plane orientation. Lithophanes made from stereolithography were analyzed but showed lower contrast due to the optical property difference of the white resin. Laser sintered lithophanes serve as an interesting and complex LS industrial application. Optical properties, manufacturing aspects, and other related issues were analyzed and discussed in this dissertation. Future work may include the use of nanocomposites for optimal lithophane performance, and more precise manufacturing processing to improve the lithophane resolution.Item A compilation of design principles and guidelines for selective laser sintering(2016-05) Pradhan, Nivedita; Seepersad, Carolyn C.; Crawford, Richard HThe term Additive Manufacturing (AM) is used to describe several manufacturing technologies that share the same basic principle of producing parts directly from their CAD models without the need for special tooling, by adding material selectively one layer at a time. Current research focuses on one such technology called Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) where thin layers of powdered thermoplastic material are fused using a laser beam. With no part-specific tooling required, the product development cycle is drastically shortened. This lack of tooling, coupled with freedom of placement of material, opens the door to several design opportunities unique to AM such as increased geometrical design freedom and the ability to manufacture low production volumes economically. Gradual improvements in process accuracy and selection of materials over time have resulted in a shift in application of AM from rapid prototyping to direct manufacturing and even ‘democratization’ of the product development process in which even non-professional users can rapidly manufacture products as long as there is a CAD model for the part. However, the move to direct manufacturing of end-use parts also means that part quality in terms of conformance to product specification becomes important for the product to successfully perform its function. The research in this thesis is focused on documenting these manufacturability capabilities and limitations for Selective Laser Sintering. It focuses specifically on thermoplastics, especially Nylon 12 polyamide materials known by the trade names PA 2200 and Duraform PA. While several design resources have been created based on industry best practices developed through experience, they are scattered throughout the literature and are not readily available to designers. It is also difficult to compare and draw quantitative inferences from existing guidelines as they are developed independently under dissimilar process conditions. Therefore, a prime focus of this research is to synthesize and compile existing guidelines into a comprehensive document. The first objective of this research is to compile a user-friendly resource, in the form of design principles and guidelines, to help designers make early process selection decisions, optimize part quality and minimize manufacturing cost. A systematic literature review of available guidelines, exploratory studies and case studies is conducted to develop actionable design recommendations that are within the scope of the designer. The second objective of this research is to address the lack of adequate process tolerance information that can reliably predict the quality of parts produced by the selective laser sintering process. This information is important to accurately evaluate the process during early process selection. A test part is proposed to measure dimensional deviations for various features (such as holes, gaps, cylinders, walls, clearances, etc.) across a range of dimensions and along different orientations. Finally, a sampling plan that represents sources of variability in the process is put forward to collect statistical data in an economical manner.Item Effect of in-plane voiding on the fracture behavior of laser sintered polyamide(2011-12) Leigh, David Keith; Bourell, David Lee; Beaman, Joseph J.Laser Sintering, a method of additive manufacturing, is used in the production of concept models, functional prototypes, and end-use production parts. As the technology has transitioned from a product development tool to an accepted production technique, functional qualities have become increasingly important. Tension properties reported for popular polyamide sintering materials are comparable to the molded properties with the exception of elongation. Reported strains for laser sintered polyamide are in the 15-30% range with 200-400% strains reported for molding. (CES Edupack n.d.) The primary contributors to poor mechanical properties in polyamide materials used during Selective Laser Sintering® are studied. Methods to quantify decreased mechanical properties are compared against each other and against mechanical properties of components fabricated using multiple process parameters. Of primary interest are Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS) and Elongation at Break (EOB) of tensile specimens fabricated under conditions that produce varying degrees of ductile and brittle fracture.Item Preparation and characterization of disulfonated polysulfone films and polyamide thin film composite membranes for desalination(2011-12) Xie, Wei, 1982-; Freeman, B. D. (Benny D.); Paul, Donald R.; Sanchez, Isaac C.; Bielawski, Christopher W.; McGrath, James E.The current reverse osmosis desalination membrane market is dominated by aromatic polyamide thin film composite (TFC) membranes. However, these polyamide membranes suffer from poor resistance to continual exposure to oxidizing agents such as chlorine in desalination applications. To overcome these problems, we have synthesized and characterized a new generation of materials, disulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) (BPS) random copolymer, for desalination membranes. A key technical feature of these new materials is their high tolerance to chlorine in feed water and their excellent reproducibility in synthesis. In this study, water and sodium chloride solubility, diffusivity and permeability in BPS copolymers were measured for both acid and salt form samples at sulfonation levels from 20 to 40 mol percent. The hydrophilicity of these materials, based on water uptake, increased significantly as sulfonation level increased. The water and salt diffusivity and permeability were correlated with water uptake, consistent with expectations from free volume theory. In addition, a tradeoff was observed between water/salt solubility, diffusivity, and permeability selectivity and water solubility, diffusivity and permeability, respectively. The influence of cation form and degree of sulfonation on free volume, as probed via positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS), was determined in BPS random copolymers in both the dry and hydrated states. PALS-based free volume data for hydrated polymers were correlated with water and salt transport properties. The influence of processing history on transport properties of BPS films was also studied. Potassium form BPS films having a 32 mol% sulfonation level were acidified using solid state and solution routes. Additionally, several films were subjected to various thermal treatments in the solid state. The influence of acidification, thermal treatment, and counter-ion form on transport properties was investigated. Finally, the influence of synthesis methods of polyamide TFC membranes from m-phenylenediamine (MPD) and trimesoyl chloride (TMC) via interfacial polymerization on transport properties is reported. Then, a disulfonated diamine monomer (S-BAPS) was used instead of MPD to prepare TFC membranes. The resulting membranes exhibited reduced chlorine tolerance than those prepared from MPD. However, introduction of S-BAPS to the MPD/TMC polymerization system increased the fouling resistance of the resulting polyamide TFC membranes.