THE IMPACT OF A STATIC-MIXING NOZZLE ON UNIFORMITY IN MATERIAL EXTRUSION LARGE-SCALE ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING

Conference · Wed Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 2022

OSTI ID:1875346

Brackett, James ^[1]; Charles, Elijah ^[2]; Smith, Tyler ^[1]; Hassen, Ahmed  ^[1]; Kunc, Vlastimil  ^[1]; Duty, Chad ^[1]

---

1. ORNL
2. University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK)

There are many methods of incorporating more than one material in Additive Manufacturing (AM) processes. Oak Ridge National Laboratory has developed a unique solution that enables in-situ material switching by developing a dual-hopper feed system for Cincinnati’s Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM) system. Continuous extrusion during a step-change in material feedstock results in a unique blended material transition region that exhibits a heterogeneous internal morphology. To improve mixing of materials during extrusion, a customized static-mixing nozzle was created for use with the BAAM. Single-bead transitions from Material A to B and B to A were printed with the mixing nozzle at a specified screw speed. Compositional analysis tracked the progression of the material transition as a function of extrudate volume. The resulting transition curves were compared against a standard nozzle configuration. Optical microscopy of cross sections also demonstrated that the static-mixing nozzle promoted a more uniform bead geometry as well as a more homogeneous internal structure throughout the material transition.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1875346
• Resource Relation: Conference: SAMPE Conference 2022 - Charlotte, North Carolina, United States of America - 5/23/2022 8:00:00 AM-5/26/2022 8:00:00 AM
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English