Adaptive Platforms and Flexible Deposition System for Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM)

Abstract

The interest around the additive manufacturing is increasing, with more and more solutions at both the industrial and desktop levels. As this is still a relatively recent issue for several industrial areas, there is a clear opportunity to explore in order to optimize the systems in the face of the needs of these same industries, and with increasing times, there are increasing factors to take into ac- count in initial phases of new product development. Presently, there is also a growing ecological awareness, with the concern of implementing a logic of waste reduction and implementation of the circular economy in new products with a view to the valuation of new alternative materials. With the development of solutions aimed at the optimization and feasibility of large additive manufacturing systems, the introduction of new alternative materials will be a reality, presenting in this article a solution and methodology for future tests for new materials. Thus, herein is studied a way of responding to both problems, new ecological materials and BAAM system optimization, presented through a hybrid and flexible solution based on the Pin Bed Forming principle applied to Big Area Additive Manufacturing systems.

Bibliographic analysis on 3D printing in the building and construction industry: Printing systems, material properties, challenges, and future trends

“…Currently, according to the latest research review in universities and construction industries, three kinds of 3D concrete printers are successfully used: Robotic, Crane, and Gantry, as shown in Figure 10 [ [77][78][79][80][81][82][83]. Gantry belongs to the crane type, but the main difference between these two is that gantry is a kind of fixed design regarding height, whereas Crane type printer's height can be adjustable in the vertical direction.…”

“…Robotics, like gantry printers, require high cost and less weight on the arms. The size of gantry printers varies from small-scale laboratory printers to large building construction scale printers, depending on the site and usage [77,78]. Win sun Construction Company in china also used the same gantry printer technique to build multiple houses, including a five-story building apartment and a mansion.…”

“…Stiffness is essential to maintain the object's shape and quick building of the object's layers. Segregation must be avoided at the nozzle because, at that point, the size of the nozzle becomes smaller compared to the delivery pipe, which may cause pressure at the nozzle end [78]. Material contents and proportions should be chosen carefully to achieve the properties of good thixotropic and permeability of the concrete material.…”

“…The simplest way to change the structural buildability is the change of nozzle shape. For example, the contact area between the two beads is less in a circular orifice nozzle than in the rectangular one, and the contact area would help improve the structure's buildability [78,101]. Another way to improve the buildability is by increasing the number of adjacent layers and cellular structure of layers by using a single nozzle or multiple nozzle head.…”

Processing and Analysis of Hybrid Fiber-Reinforced Polyamide Composite Structures Made by Fused Granular Fabrication and Automated Tape Laying

“…Further advantages also lie in the use of a significantly broader range of materials, since all industrially usable thermoplastic polymers are available in the form of granules. These can also be adapted to the respective requirements using fibers, particles, and additives and thus compounded into precisely fitting composite materials with adjustable material properties [10]. This also includes recycled materials from other processing methods, e.g., composite manufacturing, as recently also reported for FFF processes [11,12].…”