PFT-TT: Accessible Metal 3D Printing Using Directed Acoustic Energy Direct-write

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project is the seamless and well-informed integration and transition of tasks in the project, ranging from acquiring and applying targeted scientific knowledge, to process development, and market needs-directed technology development roadmap. The project will culminate not only in scientific knowledge to enable advancement of a new metal 3D printing technique into a feasible technology, but it will also identify the context and market in which this new technology can maximize impact.

The project will deliver a clear roadmap for commercialization of a new, massively-accessible, metal 3D printing technology. Furthermore, the highly interactive research and development environment in the project challenges how students understand and approach engineering problems. Problems are solved not only from the perspective of the scientific community, but from an engineering feasibility, cost viability, and long-term marketability, as well as the customer experience point of views.

The project provides students with leadership development in innovation and entrepreneurship in STEM.

The proposed project allows students involved in this program to obtain scientific knowledge specifically related to the how acoustic energy changes the crystalline lattice defect dynamics under oscillatory shear strain and how defects interact with one another. This knowledge fills the gap in the current literature on how acoustic energy alters dislocation dynamics and interaction across multiple interfaces.

The acoustic energy and voxel compression are used to construct a metal 3D printing process via the direct write of solid metal wires. Through experimentation, analytical and computation modeling, the knowledge acquired here not only allows students to deepen their understanding of material mechanics and process physics, but it also allows them to apply the knowledge to the design and development of a new manufacturing process.

This project is jointly funded by Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.