MORE | Fall 2023

A study on Aluminum Voxels Characteristics Deposited by a New Metal 3D Printing Method

Resonant-Assisted Deposition (RAD) is an emerging metal additive manufacturing technology that shapes metal wire to form three-dimensional objects. Fundamentally, the physics of this solid-state technique utilizes mechanical energy in the form of small-frequency oscillatory strains to soften metals for forming and joining of voxels into 3D parts line by line and layer by layer. The unique nature of using this form of mechanical energy enables the RAD technique to be more than 100X more energy efficient in comparison with existing metal 3D printing technologies (300 W power consumption at the machine level). Currently at the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of four, RAD’s material and process capabilities require significant R&D work to advance the technique along its technology development and adoption path. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the fundamental effects of process parameters on various quality characteristics of deposited voxels of Al-1%Si material, including geometrical, morphological, and mechanical properties. Factorial experiments of 2 levels and 3 factors were conducted in the thesis work to examine the effects of tool paths, oscillatory strain amplitudes, and amounts of compression.