Hybrid Additive Manufacturing of Fused Filament Fabrication and Ultrasonic Consolidation

Fused filament fabrication (FFF) additive manufacturing technology has the advantages of being low cost, having a simple operation, using wide types of molding materials, and producing less pollution during the printing process. However, the mechanical properties of the molded sample are unsatisfactory due to the limited bonding force between the filaments during the forming process, which limits its further development and application in the engineering field. Herein, the hybrid additive manufacturing technology for heterogeneous materials based on the ultrasonic-assisted enhanced fused filament fabrication technology was proposed. The mechanism of ultrasonic vibration on the strengthening of FFF samples was explored. The influence mechanisms of bonding time and ultrasonic strengthening times, ultrasonic strengthening and static load compression on the strengthening of mechanical properties of the sample were investigated. The effects of the thickness and printing angle of the FFF samples on the ultrasonic-enhanced mechanical properties were explored. The tensile strength of the one-time ultrasonic-strengthened sample is up to 43.43 MPa, which is 16.12% higher than that of the original. The maximum bending strength of the four-time ultrasonic-strengthened sample is 73.38 MPa, which is 78.98% higher than that of the original. Ultrasonic strengthening not only re-fused the pores inside the sample, but also improved the bond strength between the rasters. With the increase in the thickness of the sample, the increase rate of ultrasonic to the strength of the sample decreased significantly. The effects of ultrasound on the interlayer adhesion of samples with various printing angles were different. Based on the systematic research on the influence mechanism of ultrasonic process parameters and molding process parameters on the strengthening of FFF, a molding method for additively manufacturing heterogeneous material parts while strengthening the mechanical properties of FFF samples was proposed, and the influence mechanisms of the molding process on the mechanical properties and shape memory properties of the sample were explored, which can broaden the application of FFF technology in the engineering field.