Date of Award

7-2018

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Mechanical and Civil Engineering

First Advisor

Pierre M. Larochelle

Second Advisor

Tiauw Go

Third Advisor

Beshoy Morkos

Fourth Advisor

Marius Silaghi

Abstract

Additive manufacturing is a process to fabricate three-dimensional (3D) objects usually by joining a material layer by layer. The layer by layer joining process simplifies the fabrication method by slicing the 3D object into stacks of 2D contours. The layers are combined in a single build direction to form the 3D object. The purpose of this research is generate new knowledge in additive manufacturing process by integrate a six degree of freedom robot arm platform with a fused deposition modeling system entitled MotoMaker for additive manufacturing applications. The development of a higher degree of freedom additive manufacturing platform allows for multi-plane layering to be achieved in the same print. Use of the system offers unique advantages over a conventional additive manufacturing platform which is limited to single-plane layering for the printing of 3D objects. This dissertation examines the capabilities of the multi-plane motion platform for additive manufacturing applications. Exploration of the capabilities of the MotoMaker platform for multi-plane printing technique to print a 3D object was conducted. The capabilities of this robot arm platform for additive manufacturing applications was explored through various multi-plane and 3D lattice structure printing techniques to build 3D objects. Mechanical characteristic of the printed objects was performed to determined the effect of multi-plane printing on printed part mechanical properties. An algorithm to generated a toolpath for the multi-plane printing platform was developed. The advantages of the multi-plane printing technique include the capability to print a 3D object with overhang structure without support material. Additionally, a 3D lattice structure was able to be printed based on the geometric features of the lattice using the multi-plane printing technique. Furthermore, the multi-plane printing technique is capable to enhanced the mechanical properties of the printed part.

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