In new product development, time to market (TTM) is critical for the success and profitability of next generation products. When these products include sophisticated electronics encased in 3D packaging with complex geometries and intricate detail, TTM can be compromised-resulting in lost opportunity. The use of advanced 3D printing technology enhanced with component placement and electrical interconnect deposition can provide electronic prototypes that now can be rapidly fabricated in comparable time frames as traditional 2D bread-boarded prototypes; however, these 3D prototypes include the advantage of being embedded within more appropriate shapes in order to authentically prototype products earlier in the development cycle. The fabrication freedom offered by 3D printing techniques, such as stereolithography and fused deposition modeling have recently been explored in the context of 3D electronics integrationreferred to as 3D structural electronics or 3D printed electronics. Enhanced 3D printing may eventually be employed to manufacture end-use parts and thus offer unit-level customization with local manufacturing; however, until the materials and dimensional accuracies improve (an eventuality), 3D printing technologies can be employed to reduce development times by providing advanced geometrically appropriate electronic prototypes. This paper describes the development process used to design a novelty six-sided gaming die. The die includes a microprocessor and accelerometer, which together detect motion and upon halting, identify the top surface through gravity and illuminate light-emitting diodes for a striking effect. By applying 3D printing of structural electronics to expedite prototyping, the development cycle was reduced from weeks to hours.INDEX TERMS 3D printed electronics, additive manufacturing, direct-print, electronic gaming die, hybrid manufacturing, rapid prototyping, structural electronics, three-dimensional electronics.
Im p ro v e d M e c h a n ic a l P ro p e rtie s of Fused D e p o s itio n M o d e lin g -M a n u fa c tu re d P arts T h ro u g h B u ild P a ra m e te r M o d ific a tio n s Today, the use of material extrusion processes, like fused deposition modeling (FDM), in aerospace, biomedical science, and other industries, is gaining popularity because of the access to production-grade thermoplastic polymer materials. This paper focuses on how modifying process parameters such as build orientation, raster angle (RA), contour width (CW), raster width (RW), and raster-to-raster air gap (RRAG) can improve ultimate ten sile strength (UTS), Young's modulus, and tensile strain. This was assessed using three methods: default, Insight revision, and visual feedback. On average, parameter modifica tion through the visual feedback method improved UTS in all orientations, 16% in XYZ, 7% in XZY, and 22% in ZXY.
Fused deposition modeling (FDM) technology, one of the most commonly used by 3D printers, builds parts layer-by-layer by heating and extruding thermoplastic filament. However, building failures such as nozzle clogging, substrate deformation, etc. often occur when using FDM systems. All of these failures are unpredictable and undetectable, resulting in lost time and money. The present research studies a methodology to detect the material deposition status to solve this crux of FDM 3D printing by sensing the inner pressure change of the liquefied material. The paper hypothesized that the change in deposition status of the FDM system affects the current supplied to the feeding motor in the extrusion head due to a chain reaction. This was corroborated by experiments which investigated how supplied current reacts when an unexpected substance invades the deposition area during a build. Chiyen Kim is with the W.M.Keck Center for 3D innovation, The ). David Espalin is with the W.M.Keck Center for 3D innovation, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968 USA (despalin@utep.edu) Alejandro Cuaron is with the W.M.Keck Center for 3D innovation, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968 USA (acuaron@miners.utep.edu) Mireya A. Perez is with the W.M.Keck Center for 3D innovation, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968 USA (maperez4@utep.edu) Eric MacDonald is with the W.M.Keck Center for 3D innovation, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968 USA (emac@utep.edu) Ryan B. Wicker is with the W.M.Keck Center for 3D innovation, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968 USA (rwicker@utep.edu)
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