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From impact to solidification in drop-on-demand metal additive manufacturing using MetalJet

Gilani, Negar; Aboulkhair, Nesma T.; Simonelli, Marco; East, Mark; Ashcroft, Ian A.; Hague, Richard J.M.

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Authors

Nesma T. Aboulkhair

Mark East

IAN ASHCROFT IAN.ASHCROFT@NOTTINGHAM.AC.UK
Professor of Mechanics of Solids

RICHARD HAGUE RICHARD.HAGUE@NOTTINGHAM.AC.UK
Professor of Additive Manufacturing



Abstract

Drop-on-demand metal jetting is a promising additive manufacturing (AM) technology that is gaining interest due to its capability to directly print complex single and multi-material components at high resolutions. It also has key advantages over other metal AM techniques, such as avoiding powder handling and extensive post-processing. In this method, parts are built via spatially controlled deposition of individual molten droplets onto a substrate. Therefore, the success of the process entirely depends on the behaviour of these single droplets from deposition to solidification including their interactions with the substrate, which is scarcely investigated to date. To fill this research gap, the in-house MetalJet platform was used to investigate the spreading and solidification of metallic micro-droplets at low Weber numbers. This was undertaken onto various substrates using a range of jetting and substrate temperatures through an integrated experimental, analytical, and computational approach. This study reports that increasing the substrate temperature enhanced the diffusion between the droplet and substrate, hence improving the bonding. Moreover, ripples forming on a droplet's periphery during solidification disappeared at elevated substrate temperatures, resulting in improved inter-droplet bonding. Furthermore, the significant role of the substrate wettability and thermal properties, which control the droplet's dynamics and solidification behaviour, respectively, is elucidated. This highlights the importance of substrate material selection using this technology. The results presented in this article underpin the optimal process conditions under which the 3D structures produced with this technology can exhibit reliable integrity and consistency. This represents a step forward in the direct metal printing of high resolution functional multi-material components.

Citation

Gilani, N., Aboulkhair, N. T., Simonelli, M., East, M., Ashcroft, I. A., & Hague, R. J. (2022). From impact to solidification in drop-on-demand metal additive manufacturing using MetalJet. Additive Manufacturing, 55, Article 102827. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addma.2022.102827

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Apr 12, 2022
Online Publication Date Apr 20, 2022
Publication Date 2022-07
Deposit Date May 3, 2022
Publicly Available Date May 3, 2022
Journal Additive Manufacturing
Print ISSN 2214-7810
Electronic ISSN 2214-8604
Publisher Elsevier
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 55
Article Number 102827
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addma.2022.102827
Keywords Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering; Engineering (miscellaneous); General Materials Science; Biomedical Engineering
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/7950842
Publisher URL https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214860422002263?via%3Dihub

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