Effects of Fumed Silica on Thixotropic Behavior and Processing Window by UV-Assisted Direct Ink Writing

Fengze Jiang; Mingyong Zhou; Dietmar Drummer

doi:10.3390/polym14153107

Effects of Fumed Silica on Thixotropic Behavior and Processing Window by UV-Assisted Direct Ink Writing

Polymers (Basel). 2022 Jul 30;14(15):3107. doi: 10.3390/polym14153107.

Authors

Fengze Jiang¹, Mingyong Zhou², Dietmar Drummer¹

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Polymer Technology (LKT), Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Am Weichselgarten 10, 91058 Erlangen, Germany.
² College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China.

Abstract

In this research, the effects of fumed silica (FS) on the Ultraviolet (UV)-ink rheological behavior and processing windows were discussed. Objects using different concentrations of FS inks were printed by the modified UV-Direct ink writing (DIW) printer. The function of fumed silica in the ink-based system has been verified, and the processing scope has been expended with a suitable amount of FS combined with the UV light. The results show that the combination of a suitable amount of FS with the UV-DIW system reaches fast and accurate printing with a larger processing window compared to the non-UV system. However, an excessively high concentration of FS will increase the yield stress of the ink, which also increases the requirement of extrusion unit and the die-swelling effects.

Keywords: UV curing; additive manufacturing; direct ink writing; rheology; thixotropic behavior.

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding. And the APC was funded by Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg within the funding program “Open Access Publication Funding”.