3D Printing & Advanced Manufacturing

The 3D printing & advanced manufacturing theme focuses on the developments in processing of polymeric materials and composites to meet emergent market needs. Key aspects of the 3D printing & advanced manufacturing theme include:

  • Customizable 3D printer for fused deposition modeling (FDM) for assessment of novel materials
  • Extrusion of custom filaments for FDM
  • Suite of high end 3D printers that span from FDM to photopolymerization
  • Novel roll-to-roll processing equipment for fabrication of functional films
  • Characterization suite to enable processing-structure-property relationships

The faculty expertise in this theme spans the spectrum from the fundamental characterization of novel processes, pre-pilot scale fabrication of materials and product demonstrations, and materials formulation/design from a processing perspective.

Key Capabilities

  • Multiple extruders with melt pumps to generate high quality filament for FDM
  • Integrated 3D printing laboratory with visualization center to be able to visualize the part before printing
  • Experience in translating new polymers into a variety of 3D printing technologies

Theme Leaders

Dr. Bryan Vogt
Professor
Department of Polymer Engineering
330-972-8608
vogt@uakron.edu

Dr. Matthew Becker
Associate Dean for Research; Professor
Department of Polymer Science
330-972-2834
becker@uakron.edu

Highlighted Resources