The strategic aim of the project is to increase the effectiveness and reliability of 3D-printed polymer structures by design optimisation.
The project’s specific aim is to elaborate and validate the methodology for predicting the long-term deformability of 3D-printed structures.
Research strategy
§ Samples with unidirectionally aligned extruded filaments will be investigated and used to develop visco-elastic(-plastic) analytical material models and to check the Time-Stress Superposition Principle for several typical polymers used in FFF.
§ The finite element method will be used to implement a viscoelastic homogenisation approach based on the representative volume element (RVE) for different printing settings (infill patterns and infill densities). The analysis allows determining the effective viscoelastic properties from the microstructural details of RVE.
§ The long-term deformability of a structural element will be simulated numerically by replacing its complex internal microstructure with an equivalent homogeneous material having calculated effective properties.
Work packages
