Thermoplastic Composites by 3D Printing and Automated Manufacturing to Extend the Life of Transportation Facilities

Details

• Creators:
  Lopez-Anido, Roberto A. ; Bhandari, Sunil ; Long, Malcom G.
• Corporate Creators:
  University of Maine. Transportation Infrastructure Durability Center (TIDC)
• Corporate Contributors:
  United States. Department of Transportation. University Transportation Centers (UTC) Program ; United States. Department of Transportation. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Three dimensional printing
  • Formwork
  • Precast concrete
  • Materials processing
  • Styrene butadiene styrene
  • Thermoplastic materials
  • Concrete plastic composites
  • Facilities
  • Transportation
  • Service life
  More +
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Edition:
  Final Report
• Corporate Publisher:
  University of Maine. Transportation Infrastructure Durability Center (TIDC)
• Description:
  Large-scale thermoplastic polymer extrusion-based additive manufacturing (AM) has been used to fabricate precast concrete formworks. There are some limitations inherent to the large-scale AM process that need to be overcome to design complex, multipart additively manufactured formworks to be used for precast concrete. This research work uses a large-scale polymer composite AM process to manufacture two-part formworks. Postprocessing was used to repair imperfections, create smooth casting surfaces, achieve precise dimensional tolerance, and incorporate assembly mechanisms for multipart formwork. Two biodegradable polymer composites (wood-fiber polylactic acid and wood-fiber amorphous polylactic acid) and a conventional polymer composite (carbon fiber acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) were selected to manufacture four sets of two-part formworks. Design details, including the cellular infill pattern, continuous toolpath, and layer time selection, are presented. Postprocessing and repairs performed on the manufactured formworks to get the required dimensional tolerance and surface smoothness are discussed.
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  69A3551847101
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/89004/dot_89004_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.37 MB]
• Collection(s):
  University Transportation Centers
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:f0e8ef569bf0d3274878240e0a6cac312a9afe058ffcad0f70e7a624ff01750afc0e88fbf4c29fedb67d827f1795b58942d073fcd4a67a9715cc93486ac1f73b