Abstract:
Additive manufacturing allows for the fabrication of complex structures which are hard to achieve through conventional machining, extrusion, injection molding or blow molding processes. Current additive manufacturing methods for polymers, such as vat photopolymerization, powder bed fusion, material extrusion and binder jetting, still have limitations on the types of polymers that can be 3D printed. Recently, a novel solution-based polymer additive manufacturing method, termed precipitation printing, is developed which is based on the solubility of the polymer being printed in two mutually miscible solvents. In this presentation, the precipitation printing technique will be reported with the goal to enable the realization of complex materials with controlled structure and unique properties. The printing process is rapid and enables the realization of large structures with complex geometries as well as printing at a higher resolution than the material extrusion method, while also allowing the fabrication of micro-scale structures with greater than 100 μm resolution. Porosity and mechanical property tailoring of the precipitation printed materials are achievable through the control of process parameters, such as solvent/non-solvent pair selection, salinity of the non-solvent and printing temperature. This presentation will detail the realization of highly couple piezoelectric polymers, multiphase materials to enable soft sensors and the printing of high temperature engineering polymers as well as biologically inspired structures.
Bio:
Dr. Sodano is a Professor in the Aerospace Engineering Department at the University of Michigan with an appointment in the Macromolecular Science and Engineering Program. His research lies in advanced materials with focus on composite materials, multifunctional materials, additive manufacturing, ceramics and nanotechnology. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Virginia Tech in 2005, his M.S. in 2003 and his B.S in 2002 also from Virginia Tech. He has published over 290 technical articles with his work being cited over 22,000 times. He currently serves as an associate editor of four journals and was awarded the NSF CAREER award in 2009, the American Society of Composites Young Researcher Award in 2012, the ASME Gary Anderson Award for Early Career Achievement in 2009, Virginia Tech’s 2010 Outstanding Recent Alumni Award, Arizona State University’s 2009 Faculty Achievement Award in Research Excellence, NASA Tech Brief Awards in 2010 and 2014, 7 best paper awards and was inducted into Virginia Tech’s Academy of Engineering Excellence in 2010. He is a Fellow of ASME and SPIE and an Associate Fellow of AIAA.
