Amplitude Uniformity in Ultrasonic-Assisted Fused Deposition Modeling

Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Melaka, Malaysia. Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) is one of the Additive Manufacturing (AM) technology. Ultrasonic-assisted FDM system has been proven to improve the mechanical properties of the printed specimens. This study aims to explore the uniformity of the amplitude of ultrasonic vibration that was used during the printing process. The uniformity of vibration affected the improvement of the mechanical properties of the 3D printed part. If there is a bad uniformity of ultrasonic vibration, it will influence and increase the variation of the tensile test result. An open-source FDM printer attached with the piezoelectric transducer in various locations of the printer platform was set up. Five different positions and numbers of piezoelectric transducer were set up in order to determine the best position and number of the piezoelectric transducer for transmitting the vibration uniformly to the printing platform. A laser scanning vibrometer was used to determine the amplitude of ultrasonic vibration that transmitted over the printing platform of an open-source FDM 3D printer. From the results, it shows that with two piezoelectric transducers at “Position 4” improved the uniformity of ultrasonic vibration as it had the lowest standard deviation. The test also revealed that the ultrasonic vibration effect uniformly on the 3D printed specimens. In addition, it also reduces the variation and provide better tensile test results of the printed specimens