Undergraduate Research: Extruder for Highly Viscous Material 3D Printing

Skills

Machine Shop, Research, SolidWorks, Finite Element Analysis, Drafting, Project Management, Additive Manufacturing, Mechanical Design

Project Overview

As a recipient of an honors undergraduate research grant, I undertook the research and development of a novel print head capable of safely printing highly viscous energetic materials. This project was conducted through the Texas Tech Combustion Laboratory. The print head uses a stepper motor and drive gear to turn a lead screw which applies pressure on the material within an enclosed syringe via a plunger, thus forcing material through a print nozzle. The nozzle was designed to be used on a Lulzbot FDM printer and a universal mounting plate makes it compatible with other platforms.